Grab Bag Friday: Chickpea Tomato Stew

Cool tomato photo by Darwin Bell.

Here's another yummy recipe from The Six O'Clock Scramble. I've been sending this around to all my siblings because it's easy, healthy, filling, and delicious!

Chickpea Tomato Stew

Serve over Israeli (large grain) couscous. (I've tried it on regular couscous and that's tasty, too.)

2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 shallots, finely chopped (I've also used yellow onions or green onions)
2 tsp. to 1 Tbsp curry powder (depending on how spicy you like it)
1 tsp. ground cumin
15 oz. canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
15 oz. diced tomatoes, with their liquid (don't get the kind with the spices mixed in)
1 cup red pasta sauce or tomato sauce
1/4 cup fresh mint and/or oregano, or 3/4 tsp. dried oregano, or to taste (fresh mint is the best!)
1 cup nonfat or low fat sour cream or plain yogurt, for serving (optional)

In a heavy skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and sauté them until they start to brown, 3-4 minutes. (If you are making couscous, start that now.)

Add the curry powder and cumin and cook, stirring, for another minute. Add the chickpeas, tomatoes and pasta sauce (if using dried oregano rather than fresh, add it now, too) and simmer it for about 10 minutes. Remove it from the heat and stir in the fresh mint and/or oregano.

Serve the stew over the couscous, topped with a spoonful of sour cream or yogurt, if desired. For a make-ahead option, you can refrigerate it for up to 3 days, or freeze it for up to 3 months before serving it.

Jason Webley: The Cost of Living

I like to haunt around Neil Gaiman's blog, and a few weeks back, he recommended this musician Jason Webley. I made a note to check him out and then promptly forgot about it. Until this weekend.

I was working on one of those long, pull-your-hair out house projects requiring caulk, paint, and a steady hand. The kind of project I can't get through without music. But not just any music. For this task, I needed something with Ramones-style energy (to out my frustrations), but Andrew Bird-style beauty and drama (to stay my concentration). I stared blankly at my Rhapsody playlist for a while, and then decided to check out this guy Neil Gaiman likes so much.

Thank you, Jason Webley (and thank you, Mr. Gaiman) for seeing me through. I listened to The Cost of Living three times back to back, and I even mananged to do a decent job with the caulking.

I love the song Clear, which doesn't seem to be up on YouTube or any of the usual places you can listen to for free. But here is a clip (which, of course, too short to do it any justice at all):



Neil Gaiman posted Almost Time on his journal.

Now, when I was looking up Jason Webley songs on YouTube, I noticed that he often plays solo. Which is cool, but I was curious to see how he would deal with a song like There's Not a Step We Can Take That Does Not Bring Us Closer, which, on the album, has these great violin and trombone sections.

Well, here's how he deals with it. Heheh. I like it:

Hip Hip Hooray! Fuse #8 Top 100 Picture Books Poll

Three cheers for Betsy Bird at Fuse #8! The final Top 100 Picture Books Poll list has been meticulously and lovingly compiled, complete with bibliography (Ms. Bird is a librarian by day, after all!)

Well, I did okay on my guesses about which books would end up in the Top Ten. 7 out of 10 isn't bad. What were my downfalls?

1. Who could have guessed that The Carrot Seed wouldn't make it onto the list at all? My mother would be appalled.

2. I swear, I've never even heard of Millions of Cats which snuck into 9th place.

3. I completely underestimated Mo Willems, who took two, count 'em, two! spots in the top ten with Knuffle Bunny and Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.

Now, before you view the list and get all worked up that The Cat In the Hat doesn't show up, please keep in mind that this was a readers poll for picture books only. No easy readers allowed. With that little caveat out of the way....go, peruse, enjoy!

Grab Bag Friday: Looking for a Song about Love, Money, and Friends Who Move Away

Every once in a while, on author Cynthia Lord's journal, she'll post some of the funny search engine keywords that bring people to her website. Just for fun, I checked out what words people type in that bring them to my Songwriting for Kids pages. Here are a few of the gems:

good song for when a friend moves away (This search shows up in many different forms, and I totally understand. It was a huge theme in my life when I was a kid. Other favorite versions of this are sad songs if ur friend moved away and my friend moved what song should i listen to)

a song some one wrote it in words

a song someone wrote and needs someone to sing it

a song that describes you like someone but in love with someone else (ouch!)

any songs with mackenzie in it? (I *still* get excited when I find a song with Josephine in it!)

enter a contest where you have to type in all the lyrics to hannah montana (Oh my gosh, *is* there such a contest? I know a few girls who would be tough contenders.)

have to courage in singing a solo (Oh, sweetie. I *wish* I could give out courage on my website.)

how to write a hit song at the age of nine

how much money does a hit song earn? (another extremely popular search!)

i think i have a hit song

i wrote a song now what

im 12 years old and i need a love song (love songs, as you can imagine, are a popular search item as well)

looking for that song about i dont need love, i need money (combining two of the hit themes here...)

need to make money age 9 (This kid should hook up with the age nine trying to write a hit song!)

song about grapes for kids (huh?)

write 10 folk songs from the computer (What a mission!)

Happy weekend everyone!

What Did You Love About Your Elementary School?

This year, I've been having a *lot* of fun working with the fourth and fifth graders in the Williams-Cone Elementary School Special Chorus. Our task was to create a song that the whole school could sing and enjoy.

Well, are you ready for it? Drumroll....here it is: My School.

The first couple days I visited the school, we had some brainstorming sessions about the things that are important to daily life at Williams-Cone. Of course, recess was huge, and we built our entire bridge around that. But what I thought was nice were the small details that came out. The little things you look forward to, that add up to make your day a really great one.

What did you love about your grade school? Here are a few of the things the kids from Williams-Cone look forward to every day:

• Breathing in the smell of clay and feeling it squish through your fingers
  
• Seeing your own artwork on the hall walls
• Listening to the principal whistle a song
  
• Making a "listening flower" (in music class, they all lay down in a circle with their feet touching in the middle and listen very carefully...cool!)
• Knowing the answer to a math question
• Going back to the "kids" section of the library and finding a favorite book from Kindergarten
• Contributing to the unrestrained *noise* in the lunchroom!

It's funny how these details stick with us. I remember distinctly my favorite corners of my elementary school library (the musty one with a whole shelf and a half of the Old Mother West Wind books, and the dark, far corner where you could tuck yourself away and secretly read the "bad" Judy Blume books). When you think about it, these little, constant things often shape who we are just as much as the big dramatic ones. I'm glad the Williams-Cone students have such fun and creative details in their lives!

Grab Bag Friday: Mouse Was Mad Contest

I am so so so excited because Linda Urban's new picture book, Mouse Was Mad, came out this week! I haven't seen it yet (that's my weekend treat to myself), but her quirky middle grade novel, A Crooked Kind of Perfect, was one the most enjoyable kids books of the decade. I'm not exaggerating.

Anyway, to celebrate the publication, Ms. Urban is having a mad contest over at her blog, Crooked Perfect. Just leave her a comment telling her

1. what makes you mad, and
2. your favorite way to feel better
   

and she'll send the lucky winner a signed copy of the book *and* a box of delicious-looking truffles.

I couldn't wait to jump right on it, but then I ran into a problem. As many of you know, there is not a lot that can make me mad. Not real, hopping, smoke-out-the-ears mad. My default is the whole "well that's out of my control" or "you never know what that person is going through" or "who cares?" stuff that drives my husband crazy. Every once in a while, he'll say to me in a fury, "It's okay to be mad, you know! Don't you ever just want to be mad?"

Since I really want to win this book, I had to dig deep. I can think of three instances over the years where I have been red-hot:

1. Pure, animal mad. Flashback to the eighties. I was eleven or twelve (in my permed ponytail and lip smackers gloss, no doubt) babysitting my three younger siblings.
What made me mad? My brother wouldn't go to bed. I lost it. Really lost it. I tried to order, beg, threaten. Instead, he started to kick.
What did I do to feel better? I bit him. Hard. On the leg. At the moment, it felt good. I got even. But the swollen bruise that formed over the week was hideous and the guilt I felt for *years* was even worse. Oh, he went to bed, though.

2. Sick to my stomach mad. In high school, we had dress-up days during Homecoming Week. You know, Pajama Day, '60s Day, all that good stuff.
What made me mad? On Color Day, one of my classmates came to school in a KKK costume. Not just that, he won first prize in the student choice awards. Not just that, the principal handed him the award. SERIOUSLY.
What did I do to feel better? Writer and confrontation-avoider that I am, I wrote a letter to the school newspaper. The teacher who ran the paper wouldn't print it, but she "thought it was a good letter" and took the liberty to send it to the county paper. Let's just say there were repercussions until I graduated, but I have always been glad I wrote that letter.
This one still makes me mad.

3. Fighting mad. These days, there is one thing that can consistently get me riled.
What makes me mad? When I come across a parent or a teacher who writes off a child. You know the kind. A kid doesn't "fit in" or have the same skill set as other kids or doesn't come from the right family and the adult (who should know better) assumes they are "stupid" or a "loser" or "will never amount to anything." I grew up around a lot of these kinds of adults (thankfully, not my parents, who are the exact opposite of this) and I see them in my day-to-day life, and they make me mad, mad, mad!
What do I do to feel better? I work harder. I teach workshops and music lessons and sing and write for kids. I try to help every kid I interact with know that they have something to offer to the world. Because they do. Every one. If they have negative adults in their life, I know I can't fix it. But if I can make a difference with one. Cancel out one voice in the crowd. Well, that's something.

I guess the take away is that for me, doing something about it is what makes me less mad. How about you?

The Clash: Should I Stay or Should I Go

Last week, on Music Wednesday, I posted a couple sweet classic songs from the '40s. As Monty Python would say...And now, for something completely different...

Recently, I've been working on a novel in which one of the characters is a little obsessed with Joe Strummer from The Clash. So I've been perusing YouTube a bit for classic punk rock, and here are a couple treats.

Here's a live version of Should I Stay or Should I Go, one of the most popular "mainstream" songs by The Clash. I love the goofy dancing, I have to say:



This Lifetimes documentary is a hoot. I love the girl who says:

"I don't know why I like them. That's why I like them. You don't have to know everything."

Brilliant. I might have to steal that for my book. :)

Top 100 Picture Books Poll Results

Here's an intriguing question: What are your Top 10 picture books of all time?

Earlier this spring, one of my favorite bloggers (Fuse #8 over at School Library Journal) asked her readers to send in their top 10 picture books. She compiled the results in a painstaking, weighted process (a person's #1 choice got more points than their #2, etc.), compiled a readers-choice Top 100 Picture Books list, and she's been doling out the results in highly entertaining posts over the last month or so.

Well, we've hit the Top 10, and if you've missed the series so far, now is the time to join in! Over the next two weeks, Fuse #8 will be posting about each of the Top 10 winners, counting up to the coveted #1 postition. Today was #10: Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems.

I made my guesses last week, and I'm already wrong! Here are the books I thought would win the Top 10 spots (in no particular order). In my defense, I voted *before* Ferdinand was posted, and he turned out to be #11. Still, had I known, I probably wouldn't have predicted Knuffle Bunny. My predictions:

• Make Way for Ducklings
• Goodnight Moon
• The Story of Ferdinand
• The Carrot Seed
• Marshmallow
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar
• Where the Wild Things Are
• The Snowy Day
• Harold and the Purple Crayon
• Madeline

Of course, this list of predictions (while I love all those books) is much different than the original list of my favorites that I sent in at the beginning of the process:

1. When the Sun Rose by Barbara Helen Berger (a sleeper, but my all-time favorite...here's my review)
   
2. The Arrival by Shaun Tan (here's my review...it made #67 on the Fuse #8 Top 100)
   
3. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (my review)
   
4. Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney (came in #19 on the Fuse #8 Top 100)
   
5. Many Moons by James Thurber (my review)
6. The Wall by Peter Sis (my review)
   
7. Charlie Parker Played Be Bop Chris Raschka (my review)
   
8. Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges (my review)
   
9. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka (came in #14 on the Fuse #8 Top 100)
   
10. Imogene's Antlers by David Small

For me, any list of favorites is so subjective and changeable. I'd probably give you a slightly different list every day, depending on my mood.

How about you? What would make your Top 10? Or what would you predict to see there?

Grab Bag Friday: Fine Gardening

Happy May Day!

It's a grey, rainy day here in Maine, but that is great news for my garden. I have tulips and daffodils getting ready to bloom, lupines and primroses spreading like crazy, and my crab apple tree is covered with tiny little buds just waiting to burst. A nice May shower will do them all good!

On dreary spring days, I love to head over and peruse the inexhaustible gardening tips at Fine Gardening. Here are a few little gems I stumbled upon this morning:

• How to Buy the Best Plants: this 5 minute video is well worth watching before you head out to buy plants this year
• Celebrate Spring: fill your pots with colorful plants that don't mind cool weather
• Hummingbird Favorites: find out what all the buzz is about by planting these colorful perennials
• Mother's Day Gardening Gift Guide
  

What are you planting this year?

(Photo by Vince Alongi)

Martha Tilton: I'll Walk Alone And the Angels Sing

A little blast from the past today. Here are two songs from one of my favorite big band singers, Martha Tilton. Sure, she's not a household name, but something about her sweet, clear tone has the ability to always put me right at ease.

And the Angels Sing is probably Ms. Tilton's most famous song, performed with the Benny Goodman Orchestra at the legendary 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert. This is the first song I heard her sing, and it won me over instantly!



A friend of mine sent me a cassette tape with I'll Walk Alone when I was away at college, and to this day, it is one of the most beautiful melodies I know (and I truly believe lyricist Sammy Cahn was a genius). I like Martha Tilton's version because she sings it with just the right amount of melancholy. Not too drippy sweet, like some of her contemporaries performed it.

Robert Hayden: Monet's Waterlillies

When I'm in need of some seriously good poetry, the kind that makes you breathe deep and look at the world in a whole new light, I usually make a beeline for the Collected Poems of Robert Hayden. In celebration of the last Monday of Poetry Month, here is a Robert Hayden poem about the reflective and refractive qualities of art in a world we don't always want to look at head-on.

Monet's Waterlilies
by Robert Hayden

Today as the news from Selma and Saigon
poisons the air like fallout,
I come again to see
the serene, great picture that I love.

Here space and time exist in light
the eye like the eye of faith believes.
The seen, the known
dissolve in iridescence, become
illusive flesh of light
that was not, was, forever is.

O light beheld as through refracting tears.
Here is the aura of that world
each of us has lost.
Here is the shadow of its joy.

Grab Bag Friday Movie Vault: Designing Women

One of the redeeming things about being laid up with a brutal cold is that you get to lounge on the couch and watch goofy old movies. Kevin and I rented Designing Women this week, and I must say, it was a highly satisfying viewing experience.

No, no, not those permed women with their interior design hijinks that dominated our televisions in the 80's. This is a 1957 comedy with two of my favorite actors: Lauren Bacall and Gregory Peck. How could you go wrong?

The basic plot is that Marilla (Lauren) and Mike (Gregory) meet on vacation on the West Coast, fall madly in love, and get married on a whim. When they return to their home town of New York, they find (hilariously) that they have two completely different lives.

I was going to describe the plot and post the original trailer here, but it spoils far too many plot lines. There were so many fun surprises in this movie, it's got to be better to just rent it and start it up cold. Suffice it to say that Gregory Peck is a comic genius. Lauren Bacall is glamorous and wry. The ending (which the 1957 The New York Times review called "in somewhat doubtful taste") had me laughing so hard it hurt my throat (what that says about my taste could be a discussion for another day).

Kevin's verdict? He definitely liked it, but he thought watching me gasp, cringe, and guffaw through the whole thing was more fun than the movie. That's about par for the course at my house.

Oren Lavie: Her Morning Elegance

I know, I know. I missed my music blog post this Wednesday. Instead of blogging, I was curled up on the couch with hot lemon ginger tea in one hand and a box of kleenex in the other. *sigh* Spring cold season.

But, I won't short change you. I'll give you a quick music post *and* a Grab Bag Friday post, all in one day. How about that? All is forgiven?

For the music: a lovely, whimsical video by Oren Lavie (remember his beautiful Dance Round the Memory Tree in the Narnia movie?) I've been loving this song recently:

Mary Oliver: Red Bird

Lately, I've been day-dreaming about which poems to use in my summer Poetry Writing for Kids workshop. It's a fun, but difficult exercise...kind of like having to pick out just a few pieces of candy out of a blimp-sized bag of tasty treats.

Though my class is geared toward 3rd-5th graders, I'm the kind that doesn't like to narrow the field to "children's poetry" (although there is plenty to choose from there.) So when I started thinking about a nature-inspired unit, my thoughts drifted immediately to Mary Oliver. Her simple, elegant, sharply observant, and sparse poems are filled with exactly the kind of wonder and beauty I am hoping my students will tune in to.

Over Easter, I picked up Mary Oliver's 2008 collection, Red Bird. (Her newest collection, Evidence, is scheduled to hit bookstores this month.) As expected, it is filled with rich images from the natural world that plant themselves in your mind and stay with you all day. The poet Stanley Kunitz has wisely said, "Mary Oliver's poetry is fine and deep; it reads like a blessing."

I was particularly struck by the poems in this book that concern words, and specifically, the writing of words. On one hand, Ms. Oliver ponders, words are everything. But on the other, they are nothing. She puts the image of herself, constantly finding beauty, joy, and anguish in writing and manipulating language, against the image of the red bird, the fox, the owl. In the natural world, of which she writes so much about, there are no words. And yet even without words, there is no shortage of beauty, joy, and anguish there. Without words:

"the trees flourish,
the toad leaps,
and out of the silent dirt
the blood-red roses rise." (From "Both Worlds")

Below is one of the poems on this topic that I intend to use for my class. I hope you'll have a chance to pick up a copy of Red Bird and read the rest. It is indeed fine and deep and reads like a blessing.

Percy and Books (Eight)
by Mary Oliver
(note: Percy is Ms. Oliver's dog)

Percy does not like it when I read a book.
He puts his face over the top of it and moans.
He rolls his eyes, sometimes he sneezes.
The sun is up, he says, and the wind is down.
The tide is out and the neighbor's dogs are playing.
But Percy, I say. Ideas! The elegance of language!
The insights, the funniness, the beautiful stories
that rise and fall and turn into strength, or courage.

Books? says Percy. I ate one once, and it was enough.
Let's go.


You can listen to Mary Oliver reading from her poetry (she begins with a Percy poem) at the Lannan Foundation. (Thank you to One Poet's Notes for the link.)

Mary Oliver's biography is available at Poetry Foundation.

Grab Bag Friday: Wild Rumpus on the White House Lawn

This was my favorite video of the week. It's worth watching to the end because President Obama starts to hit his stride. He's not half-bad at story time! Let the wild rumpus begin!

So which rumpus do you think will be better...Obama's interpretation or Spike Jonze's?

Playing for Change: Stand By Me and Don't Worry

My mom sent me a Playing for Change video a few months back, and one of my student's parents recently reminded me about it, so I figure it's high time to get something up on the blog!

The Playing for Change Foundation provides facilities, supplies, and educational resources for musicians around the world. The foundation has started a music school and an art center in Africa, and is working to rebuild Tibetan refugee centers in India and Nepal.

Working with musicians around the world, Playing for Change has recorded a CD, Songs Around the World that will be released on April 28th. It's such a cool project. Here are a couple songs that will be on the album (and are now available on iTunes):

Stand By Me:



Don't Worry:

Jane Yolen at The Miss Rumphius Effect

UPDATE 4/14: For another Poetry Month interview with Jane Yolen, you can wander over to Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

For Poetry Month, The Miss Rumphius Effect (best blog name ever) has been doing a series of interviews called Poetry Makers. Last week, I was excited to see that she interviewed one of my author-heroines, Jane Yolen.

Jane Yolen is unbelievably prolific. She's published more than 300 books (and I swear that number is growing every day). And she's incredibly versatile. I first got hooked on her fantasy books, especially her retellings of traditional stories like Briar Rose. Then I got pulled into her picture books (like All Those Secrets of the World), her folk tale collections (like Not One Damsel in Distress), and her poetry collections (like the charming new book Here's a Little Poem).

What draws me to Jane Yolen's work is always her strong, brave, and truly capable female characters, her love of the traditional story, her bent toward the whimsical and fantastical, and the *fun* she has painting pictures with language.

What inspires me about Jane Yolen's work is her diversity, her depth, her very nuts-and-bolts, practical, and tireless dedication to sit down and write and write and write.

In The Miss Rumphis Effect interview, you can read some of Jane Yolen's poetry and learn about the new projects she is working on. But here is my favorite question/answer of the whole interview:

What are the things you enjoy most about writing poetry for children/young adults?
Jane: I can help them see the world anew. I can put into words some of the longings, and lingering doubts, some of the puzzles and muzzled moments of their lives. I can give them songs to sing.

She can. And she does. Daily. Thank you, Jane Yolen, and thank you Miss Rumphius Effect!

(Be sure to check out some of the other great in-depth Poetry Makers interviews with children's poets like Adam Rex, Julie Larios, and Joyce Carol Thomas...and stay tuned. There's more to come all month!)

Grab Bag Friday: Kill A Watt Meter

Yesterday, I spent some time at the Bowdoin College Climate Fair, showing people how to use a Kill A Watt Meter, so I thought I'd take a minute to pass the information on to you.

Kill A Watt Meters are becoming available at libraries all over the country (you can check them out just like a book...just ask your friendly librarian). You can use them to find the biggest energy hogs in your house.

They're a snap to use:

• Plug the Kill A Watt Meter into the wall
• Plug the appliance you'd like to test into the Kill A Watt Meter
• Let it sit for an hour

Once you have a reading on the kilowatts per hour you can go to this handy calculator and find out how much that appliance is costing you per month. (You'll notice it defaults to the Maine state rate of $.17/kwh, so if you live in another state, you should change that. To find your state's rate, here is a handy chart.)

Here are some examples:

• My television costs me $12.24 per month when it's OFF. If I plug it into a power strip and flip it off when I'm not using the TV, I could save almost $150 per year. (Or I could just unplug the TV and skip the power strip, but that would mean reaching behind the TV...not an easy task in our house.)
  

• If I turn my computer off during my lunch hour instead of leaving it on, that's another $80 per year.

• If I run my bedroom air conditioner for one hour less per day, I save $75 per summer.

You can see just with those three little painless changes, I've just earned myself a little spa weekend. Thanks, Kill A Watt Meter!

Sam Phillips: A Piece of My Bright Side

Sam Phillips is giving away a brand new song, A Piece of My Bright Side to anyone who signs up for her mailing list. It's an upbeat little gem, and I definitely recommend heading over to download it.

She's also selling a limited edition handmade book with the same name. A collection of "Sam's favorite oddities, pictures, interview tour stuff & more," it looks like her signature quirkiness bound up, packaged, and signed. What fun! I ordered my copy last week.

Here's a link to my previous (and surprisingly copious) Sam Phillips posts in case you want to read and hear more.

The Smallest Range: A Poem for Anita O'Day

For the first Monday of Poetry Month, I thought I'd post one of my own poems, just for kicks.

This is a poem I wrote a while back for one of my favorite singers of all time: Anita O'Day. When Ms. O'Day was a child, she had a botched tonsillectomy that left her with a very small vocal range, and little capacity for vibrato. She always claimed that having less to work with forced her to find more rhythmic, interesting ways to use her voice.

[Completely unrelated side note: There's a great round-up of all the online Poetry Month events in the kidlit world over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.]

The Smallest Range
Poem for Anita O’Day
by Josephine Cameron

Even this, this nothing, this incremental
change in pitch, if this is all there is, mold it, push it,
slice it to pieces, listen to it skitter and scat
through the cracks of this litany, this homage
to a void, this slender all-you’ve-ever-had.

Anita’s run off with the boys again—
Uptown, they play hardball, incongruous
with these thin lips, these starched curls;
home is a place to leave, so stamp it shrug it
drug it out, send sixteenth notes like so many coins
clamoring; crevices are made to be filled.
Leave behind expectations, preconceptions;
who’d have thought this flatness could burst
within its confines, the poisoned seed bloom;
this is evolution, determination, music, jazz.

Grab Bag Friday: Tilapia Topped with Warm Cherry Tomatoes

For those of you who are regular readers of Please Come Flying, you may remember that about a year ago, Kevin and I decide to try a meal-planning website called The Six O'Clock Scramble. Well, we're still at it, and I officially give The Scramble a two thumbs up. For three reasons:

1. I don't have to plan out our meals (which for reasons good or bad, I can't stand doing)
2. Our grocery list is made for us (and when we stick to the list, we spend less at the store)
3. We are constantly trying new, delicious meals (there are only a *small* handful of Scramble meals we haven't liked)
4. Every single recipe has been so easy, that even I cannot mess it up (ok, that's four)
   

There have been weeks when we haven't used it, but even still, it's been well worth the $1 per week.

And every once in a while, there are dishes that are so easy and delicious I have to share them with everyone I know. Here's one that I can't stop raving about. So simple, so *quick*, so delicious! (I used regular black olives because Kevin's not a fan of the kalamata.) And the cucumber salad on the side just *makes* the meal.

Tilapia Topped with Warm Cherry Tomatoes

This dish takes about 10 minutes start to finish, but you would never know it from the beautiful presentation and delicious flavor. Tilapia is a great fish to use for weeknights, because it is inexpensive, earth friendly, and cooks quickly. Our kids also like its mild taste. Serve it with a loaf of whole grain bread and a Cucumber Salad.

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1-1 1/2 lbs. tilapia fillets (or use flounder, cod, or other thin white fish fillets)
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, halved
• 1/4 lemon, juice only, about 1 Tbsp.
• 1 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese, shredded or grated (optional)
• 1/4 tsp. salt, to taste
• 1/8 tsp. black pepper, to taste (optional)

In a large heavy skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the fish and season it with salt and pepper. Sauté the tilapia, turning it once, until it turns white throughout and flakes easily, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the fish to a dish or platter.

In the same skillet (without cleaning it) sauté the tomatoes, parsley, and olives for several minutes until the tomatoes are softened. Season the sauce with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Pour the sauce over the fish, top it with the Parmesan cheese (optional), and serve it immediately.

Tip:

For picky eaters, serve the fish plain with sauce on the side or on just one bite of the fish.

SERVE WITH CUCUMBER SALAD WITH HONEY AND FETA

To make the salad, toss two peeled, chopped, and seeded cucumbers with 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese, 10 chopped fresh mint leaves, and 1 tsp. honey. Serve immediately or chill for up to one hour until ready to serve.

Save the Date: Summer Writing Workshops

I can't believe it, but summer is *really* just around the corner! I thought I'd give you a sneak peak into the workshops I'll be teaching at Bowdoin College this summer. It's so much fun to be a part of the endless creativity that springs from these young writers. They constantly surprise and impress me. I can't wait!

(If you're in Maine, and curious, I'll post registration information soon.)

JULY 13-17 (8:30am-12:00pm)
Songwriting for Kids Vol. 1
Students entering grades K-3
This is the traditional Songwriting for Kids workshop. We will learn American folk songs and use them to discover the basics of songwriting while gaining some insight into the historical context of the songs. We will focus on elements of rhythm, rhyme, melody, and above all, collaboration. Students will learn about creative teamwork and work together to write a class song. Students who have previously taken this workshop are more than welcome as songs and activities vary from year to year.

JULY 20-24 (8:30am-12:00pm)
NEW! Songwriting for Kids Vol. 2
Students entering grades K-3
In Vol. 2, we will experiment with various songwriting forms and structures: the blues, the "hooky" pop chorus, the bridge. Students will work in small groups and individually to write a number of "song sketches" throughout the week. This workshop may be taken as a stand-alone, but students who have taken Vol. 1 will benefit from having a knowledge of the vocabulary and traditional song structure we will use as a base.

JULY 13-17 (1:30-5:00pm)
Fiction Writing for Kids
Students entering grades 3-5
This workshop teaches the basics of fiction writing, including Character, Plot, Revision, and Imaginative Writing. During the workshop, students will study character development, plot structure, and setting in popular children's literature and will write and illustrate their very own book.

JULY 20-24 (1:30-5:00pm)
NEW! Poetry Writing for Kids
Students entering grades 3-5
This workshop teaches the basics of writing poetry in both form and free verse. Students will learn to study and analyze poems by poets from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Robert Frost to Gwendolyn Brooks and Robert Hayden. Students will use class time to write and illustrate their own short book of poems.

Where The Wild Things Are

My friend Robin recently posted a link to this trailer, and I immediately thought...is it true? Is it true?

It *is* true! There is going to be a movie of Maurice Sendak's classic picture book, Where the Wild Things Are. (How did I miss this bit of information?)

Now, I have the same wary feeling about this that I had when I heard they were making a film of The Lord of the Rings. Excited, because it could be a brilliant interpretation of a book I adore, and nervous because it could just as easily be a full-fledged disaster.

What do you think? Can Spike Jonze successfully transfer Max's wild rumpus to film?

Here's a short blurb from the LA Times.

I have to admit, the trailer looks pretty awesome.

Grab Bag Friday: Community Supported Agriculture!

Here is a "rerun" post from 2007 about signing up to buy vegetables from your local farms. I truly believe the CSA movement is a force for all that is good and fresh and healthy in the world. If you are in Maine, Hatchet Cove Farm, my favorite local organic farm is currently taking sign-ups, and I just secured my summer share! You should, too! (At the bottom, you can learn how to find a CSA farm near you.)

* * *

Originally posted March 2, 2007. Here I am, snowed in on March 2nd, with at least a full month of winter spread out in front of me, and I'm happily dreaming and scheming about Summer! That's because I just received an email from Hatchet Cove Farm, a local organic farm that we purchase a CSA share from. Lots of farmers will be gearing up for their summer CSA programs over the next few weeks...here's what it means:

CSA is Community Supported Agriculture. It means what it says. I, as a community member, buy a "share" from a local farm. In return, I get a big bag of fresh, delicious, organic vegetables delivered every week for 18 weeks during the summer season. Here's why it's great:

I get to...

• Eat healthy, nutritious food all summer long
• Try new things (I'd never had bok choy before...it's delicious in stir fry!)
• Know the farmer that grew my food
• Support local agriculture
• Keep my money in the local economy
• Eat fresh, unprocessed veggies

SIDE STORY: My husband, a Los Angeles native, had never had a cucumber that wasn't bought at the store. We got our first CSA with cucumbers and he crinkled his nose, "I hate cucumbers." Until...he tried a real, fresh cucumber. He was stunned that it tasted so good! He thought cucumbers just naturally grew with a bitter, waxy buildup on the skin, never realizing that that is actually added to the cucumber to make them look more appealing and last longer in the store. Thanks to Hatchet Cove Farm, we snacked on yummy cukes all summer long!

Here's an example of how it works. I'll use our CSA, Hatchet Cove Farm, as my example...the details of other CSAs will, of course, vary:

• Share price: [2009 update: HCF is now charging $300 for the summer--still incredibly reasonable] $270 for eighteen weeks of vegetable deliveries (mid-June to mid-Oct) is for a "two-person" share. If you love veggies or have a larger family, you may want to purchase two shares. I think $15 a week for fresh, homegrown veggies is a terrific deal!


• The Vegetables: you receive a selection of in-season vegetables every week, including (but not limited to!) mesclun, spinach, and other early greens in the early summer. Peas, beans, broccoli, and early potatoes in the mid-summer. Zucchini, onions, peppers, and tomatoes in the late summer. Melons, corn, kale, and chard in the early fall.


• Pickup/Delivery: [2009 note: HCF delivery days & routes may have changed] There are a few options for getting your veggies. Hatchet Cove Farm makes deliveries to the Rockland Unitarian church at 11am Sundays for people in the Rockland area. On Monday afternoons, they deliver shares to Waldoboro, Damariscotta, and Nobleboro. On Tuesday mornings, they deliver to Woolwich and Brunswick/Topsham. On Thursday afternoons, they deliver to members in Friendship. And pickup at the farm in Warren or Friendship is always availiable. If you do not want your share on any given week, the folks at Hatchet Cove will be happy to donate your share to the Area Interfaith Outreach Food Pantry in Rockland.


• Newsletter/Recipes: Every week, along with your veggies, you receive a letter telling about activities and news from the farm, as well as recipes to help inspire you to use up every last vegetable.


• Hatchet Cove Farm Meat: CSA members get first dibs on purchasing farm-raised lamb and chicken! [2009 note: check for availability]
  


• Hatchet Cove Farm becomes your farm, too!: Members are welcomed at the farm to volunteer or just to visit, and a potluck/garlic planting day happens every fall.

Sounds great right? So, how can you join a CSA?

You can find out about CSAs from local farmers by keeping an eye out on bulletin boards at your local grocery store, library, church, or community center. You can also do a quick online search for farms in your area at the Eat Well Guide (Wholesome Food from Healthy Animals). If you live in my area here in Maine, you can contact Hatchet Cove Farm by email: info@hatchetcovefarm.com.

Ah, summer dreams...

Zooglobble's KidVid Tournament 2009

Ok, it's that March Madness time of year again, which means BRACKETS. Which means CHILDREN'S MUSIC VIDEOS! Right?

Every year, Zooglobble (the premier kids' music blog) hosts a KidVid Tournament...head to head match ups of the best kids' music videos of the year. Each day, you can vote for a match up, and the winner heads to the next bracket to duke it out with the remaining winners. Right now, they're in the tail end of the first bracket, so I highly recommend that you and your family head over, watch some videos, vote, and enjoy the fun.

One of my favorites already lost, but then again, I'm a little goony like that. Something about this Barenaked Ladies video just cracks me up:

Poem-A-Day

Am I the only one who gets really excited about National Poetry Month (coming your way in, oh, 8 days...)?

Well, in case it floats your boat, too...every year for National Poetry Month (April), the Academy of American Poets sponsors a Poem-A-Day email. Don't forget to go sign up...you'll get a poem each day selected from new books published this spring. It's a great way to come across poets you might never have read before, and I always hope to find a new favorite or two in the bunch.

I do wish they would stop using this poetry-as-medicine image though. Blech. Isn't reading poetry a *little* more fun than taking pills?

Grab Bag Friday: 30 Days with Morgan Spurlock

Have you seen this show?

Not too long ago, Kevin heard about a television show created by Morgan Spurlock, the guy who made the fantastic documentary Super Size Me (which, if you watch the special features on that DVD, watch out...it will turn you away from McDonald's delicious french fries for ever. I haven't eaten them since.)

So we googled 30 Days, and it turns out you can watch all the episodes for free on Hulu. We watched a couple. And now I'm completely addicted.

The basic setup is like any other reality TV show. People agree to put themselves in situations that are out of their comfort zones and be filmed. We watch vicariously while they go through varying degrees of insanity on national television.

But this is not your ordinary reality show.

Morgan Spurlock seems to be very interested in questions of extremism. Think of Super Size Me. He took something Americans do without thinking (eating fast food) and took it to the extreme, eating fast food for every meal, every day, for 30 days, just to see what would happen.

30 Days is an extension of that experiment. Spurlock takes people with extreme views on hot-button issues (abortion, gun laws, same-sex marriage), and puts them in a situation where they will have to live like the "other side" for 30 days.

For instance, one of my recently watched favorites was the episode on animal rights. An avid hunter from the South agrees to spend 30 days living with a PETA activist and her family. According to the rules, he had to spend his days they way they would spend theirs. So our hunter had to work at an animal rescue facility, and protest on the street against animal testing.

The results are fascinating. Sometimes, each side sticks to their guns and is unmovable. In the case of the southern hunter, he and the PETA activist were able to come to a kind of middle ground. The hunter, who will continue to hunt, decided that the practices in the commercial meat factories are unethical and wrong, and he won't eat commerical meat any more (even though he said his friends are initially going to razz him!) The PETA activist learned that hunters are not necessarily the evil animal-hating killers she originally imagined, but real people who can have good motives and a good heart.

I love this idea. Each time I watch the show, it makes me think about things in a way I might not have stumbled on alone. Kevin and I get into some *very* interesting conversations. And I try to think about what extreme views, stereotypes, or belief systems I might have that could use a little moderation.

I heard a rumor, that FX (the station that airs the show) is cancelling 30 Days. Please, please, somebody else pick it up. The Bachelor is fun (and believe me, I've watched my fair share), but we also need shows like this in the world.

Great Hip Hop Speaks to Children News!

I'm happy to say that Hip Hop Speaks for Children (the Nikki Giovanni book/CD that includes my song Long Track Blues) spent its 5th week on the New York Times Bestseller list for picture books last week!

And, I found out from A Year of Reading that it has been named one of the 2009 Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts. You can see the whole list here.

I'm hoping teachers and parents will use this book as a resource during Poetry Month, too.

Here's a short video biography of Sterling A. Brown, the author of the poem "Long Track Blues":

Jen Bryant & Melissa Sweet: A River of Words

This weekend, my sister and I went to a fabulous party to celebrate the recent Caldecott Honor given to Melissa Sweet for her picture book A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams.

What a blast! First of all, there were crazy party hats. You *have* to head over to Cynthia Lord's blog and read the story of the hats. (You can even scroll down to see a picture of me in my somewhat floppy hat.)

Second, there was a collage room. Beth and I worked diligently over a goofy collage involving plums, a flamingo, and *lots* of pink glitter (and no, I was not one of the pint-sized glitter gnomes that Cynthia mentions in her post). We were pretty satisfied with it until we looked up and saw some of the amazing (seriously, I mean frame-worthy!) pieces of art that were being created in that room.

Awed, we headed out to the main gallery area where we could partake in an activity we are much more talented at: making a mess while eating delicious cupcakes!

The best part of the party was the original artwork displayed on the walls. It was fascinating to see Melissa Sweet's collages in their original form, each intricate piece stacked on top of another, not perfectly flat and seamless like they appear in the book. Melissa signed my book and took the time to be gracious, kind, and warm to everyone in that long line.

Which brings me to the book. I was so excited when A River of Words came out because I love William Carlos Williams' poetry, and I've always thought that his use of the everyday, ordinary happenings and objects in our lives makes his work accessible to kids.

A River of Words tells the story of William Carlos Williams' upbringing, his choice to become a doctor, his friendships with other modernist poets like Ezra Pound, and H.D. The intricate illustrations merge the inspiration he found all around him (water, pastoral landscapes, roads) with his everyday life (bits of poems scratched on prescription orders, receipts, memo pads from his office).

I've always been interested in William Carlos Williams' story because he had a full life both as a successful doctor and a famous poet. It's inspiring and important to remember that we don't all fit into one neat box, as society often tells us. The "artsy" kid might just as easily also love math. The "science geek" or the "jock" might just as easily be able to create brilliant works of art. William Carlos Williams reminds us that we are all multi-faceted, and we all have the ability to see the beauty and the strangeness in the everyday world right in front of our eyes.

There's a great interview with Melissa Sweet over at A Year of Reading. Here's a sample of what she has to say about making the collages for A River of Words:

MS: This book had a woefully skimpy dummy and not many sketches. Although I had done extensive reading about WCW and visited his town, I was beginning to panic. I didn’t have a handle on how to render this book. The deadline was on the heels of Tupelo and I was feeling almost out of gas. I had saved some beautiful end boards from an old book with a subtle print and a good quality paper. I tried painting on it and it worked great. Then I tried using book boards as my canvases instead of starting on paper. It was just the thing I needed to propel me. It was new and fresh and I had such momentum from it. I’ve been buying old books, notebooks, atlases for years and for this project I used whatever I wanted—nothing was saved for another project. The collages are done like a painting. I start with a background, then add more objects and push things around until I feel it’s done. I approach it as a design problem so I’m considering the colors, composition etc. When I collect or buy collage materials I don’t necessarily know how I’ll utilize them. I just know I have to have them.

Grab Bag Friday: Operation Fairy Dust

George Bailey: That's some dress, Violet.

Violet: Oh, this old thing? Why, I only wear it when I don't care how I look!

Spring is almost here! The 16 degree (feels like 9) temperature outside tells me otherwise, but I choose to believe the calendar.

We all know two things are inevitable in Spring:

1. Spring cleaning
2. Spring dances

I read recently about a brilliant organization that is ready and waiting to help with both. It's easy:

1. Clean out your closet and set aside your old prom and bridesmaid dresses that you'll (truly) never wear again.
2. Send them to Operation Fairy Dust, where they will be donated to a girl who can't afford one.

Operation Fairy Dust is based out of New York City, but if you prefer, you can make the same impact in your own community by donating your dresses to the local Goodwill or thrift shop. Or just ask around. Even if you think your dress is outdated, just remember..."vintage" is back in style (haven't you seen the legwarmers the past couple of winters?)

Though prom dresses were never my thing, I have to say, this is a *great* idea. (Ok, so I wore my Converse high tops and a crazy fringed shawl to my prom, but that's another story...)

A Little Musical Nostalgia Never Hurt Anyone

My brother sent this video for nostalgia's sake earlier this week. It's amazing how hearing a song can bring you immediately back to a specific moment in time. When I was 13, I used to blast this as loud as my pink mini-boombox would go and bop around my room, complete with fake microphone in my hand and permed ponytail bouncing around its neon scrunchie. I can practically smell the Lip Smackers right now.

So what song were *you* bopping around to in your room when you were a kid?

Willa Cather: My Antonia

"Nothing happened. I did not expect anything to happen. I was something that lay under the sun and felt it, like the pumpkins, and I did not want to be anything more. I was entirely happy. Perhaps we feel like that when we die and become a part of something entire, whether it is sun and air, or goodness and knowledge. At any rate, that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep."

My friend Blueberry lent me this book over Christmas and for a long time, it sat on my coffee table, waiting to be read. Friends would walk into the living room and express genuine shock that it has taken me until age 33 to read My Antonia. "How is that possible?" What can I say? It simply hadn't entered my universe before.

I picked it up on a dull, snowy day. The kind of day perfectly described in the book, in fact: "Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen." The story is told in the voice of Jim Burden, an orphaned boy who is brought to Nebraska to live with his grandparents in the late 19th century. Antonia and her family are immigrants from Bohemia who have come to farm the land adjacent to the Burdens. Far from the American opportunity and promise they set out to find, their living situation is untenable, and they encounter struggles in the new world that they never would have imagined.

Willa Cather's prose is incredibly rich. She sets the Midwestern countryside ablaze with sunshine and lights up each individual blade of grass. Your mind can't help but hold a nostalgic, detailed picture of Antonia, her ragged dress, the dusty pioneer town, the dances, the starlight, the heat.

My Antonia is a portrait of pioneer life, and especially of the demands and struggles that confronted women of that time period. It is a reflection on nostalgia, friendship, endurance, and love. It's the kind of book you want to read again as soon as you've finished it. It's the kind you want to pass on to your friends and exclaim "What do you mean you haven't read this yet?" And even as you say it, you're just a little bit jealous. Because you know that when they open it, they'll get to meet Antonia for the first time, they'll get to run through the prairie grass, and be surprised and warmed by that deep, rich sunshine.

Grab Bag Friday: A Little Friday Humor

Here are three videos that made me smile this week.

My sister, Steph, sent me this one and I roared. I love the airplane bit at the end:



I came across this one on the blog As The World Stearns. It's another clip from Improv Everywhere. These people are creative geniuses.



Lastly, this one is Improv Everywhere's latest mission. I just love how quickly a simple thing like a high five can put smiles on people's faces. When these people get on the escalator, they're dour, lost in their own little worlds (like we all are half the time). When they get off, more than half of them are grinning, interacting, enjoying the moment. Think about that. It's brillant. What can you do to brighten somebody's day today?

M Ward: Rave On

This week, I've been enjoying listening to M. Ward's new album, Hold Time. I started listening to it when I was doing some paperwork, so I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention, just enjoying his typical dreamy, groovy, somewhat nostalgic vibe.

But a few songs in, I had to put down my pencil and grin.

Was this really an M. Ward version of Rave On? Seriously?

Now how cool is that?



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