Dewey's Read-a-thon: Book fuel

So, I accidentally discovered this "recipe" a couple of weeks ago.

Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip

8 oz cream cheese

1/4 c canned cranberry sauce (Whole berries if you like some texture. Cranberry jelly is you like a smooth, non-chunky dip.)

Let the cream cheese come to room temperature. It makes it easier to mix it. Combine the cranberry sauce and cream cheese. Using a food mixer makes mushing them a quick task. For maximum flavor marination, let the dip sit for a hour or two. Enjoy with fruit or my favorite - pretzels!

This cranberry cream cheese combo was originally meant for turkey and swiss roll-ups. I was making the roll-ups for a potluck, but I switched this out for another flavor cream cheese. So this was all mixed up but taking up space in my fridge. For breakfast, I grabbed it and paired it with pretzels. NOMMMMM!

Baking by the Book

Yesterday, my 4-year-old and I accomplished our two Halloween goals: finish our costumes and bake cookies to share. Baking cookies was a project two weeks overdue, at least! It was awfully hard to keep walking past the M&Ms everyday.

Now, I'm cleaning off my desktop, and what do I come across? A book baking project! Gladys Goes Out to Lunch by Derek Anderson was recommended to me by a local grandma who came back into the library after she'd returned the book! She said she and her grandson found this recipe at the end of the story, and it was the best banana bread she's had. Now, she needed a copy of it for herself. Coming from a grandmother, I thought that was a stunning recommendation! While we've haven't made this yet, I can only hope that my search for the "best banana bread" will come to an end. That's not too much to expect, is it? Here is the recipe and an author's note by Derek Anderson:

"After first writing Gladys Goes Out to Lunch a few years ago, I sat down one Saturday to work on a sample painting of Gladys. My wife, Cheryl, decided to inspire me by baking a loaf of banana bread. I was painting away in my studio when I heard a a gasp of shock from the kitchen, so of course, I went running. Cheryl was standing wide-eyed, over an open cookbook. "Just look," she said. I looked at the recipe for banana bread and there, beneath the title was the author's name - Gladys. I'm not now, nor have I ever been a cook , so I'd never had a reason to pen this cookbook before. I'd chosen the name 'Gladys' for my gorilla only because I liked the name. And banana bread had always played a key role in the story. I don't know whether life imitates art, or art imitates life, but it seems this story was meant to be."

Popcorn Songs

Did you know October is popcorn month? I do now! The National Education Association has several popcorn activities compiled by grade, and I'm not sure who put this popcorn mini-theme project together, but it comes in a handy PDF to print out.

In honor of one of my favorite snacks, I held a popcorn themed storytime this morning. Nine boys attended and three parents. While I got pulled away to the library counter, one of the moms taught them a popcorn song. Turns out, it was two songs put back-to-back. While I can remember all the actions, I can't remember the tune of the second song. Here are a couple versions of the first half... sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, POP!

Of all the popcorn songs I searched through, my favorite is Greg and Steve's 'Popcorn' song:

Prepping for Popcorn

In preparation for an upcoming storytime at Fulda Memorial Library, I was browsing through A Song of Popcorn: Every Child's Book of Poems. The title is a inspired by a the poem "Song of Popcorn" by Nancy Byrd Turner. I couldn't find what year this poem was published, nor could I find a picture of Turner. This poem is also found at poetry websites under the title "A Pop Corn Song." For a PDF print-out, click on the picture.

Song of Popcorn
by Nancy Byrd Turner (1880-1970)

Sing a song of pop corn 
When the snowstorms rage; 
Fifty little brown men 
Put into a cage. 
Shake them till they laugh and leap 
Crowding to the top; 
Watch them burst their little coats 
Pop!! Pop!! Pop!! 

Sing a song of pop corn 
In the firelight; 
Fifty little fairies 
Robed in fleecy white. 
Through the shining wires see 
How they skip and prance 
To the music of the flames; 
Dance!! Dance!! Dance!! 

Sing a song of pop corn 
Done the frolicking; 
Fifty little fairies 
Strung upon a string. 
Cool and happy, hand in hand, 
Sugar-spangled, fair; 
Isn't that a necklace fit 
For any child to wear? 

Review: Immortal Milk

Immortal Milk: Adventures in Cheese
by Eric LeMay

Not so much an expert's guide to cheese, this is a book about the love of cheese. You'll learn about cheese itself, but the author also feels free to muse all about the topic. (There's an entire chapter about the word 'cheesy.') It ends abruptly, but the appendices makes up for it. The appendices page upon page upon page of pairings for cheese - whether you like beer, wine, chocolate, fruit, or meat. (Originally posted as SquareSpot on PaperBackSwap.com.)

Review: The Food Truck Handbook

The Food Truck Handbook: Start, Grow, and Succeed in the Mobile Food Business
by David Weber

A how-to guide that is practical and inspiring. It's also challenging with plenty of reasons NOT to get into the food truck business. The author is president of a food-truck advocacy group and wants to encourage business owners to use high-standards and honesty. Includes lots of interviews with food truck owners. (Originally posted as SquareSpot at PaperBackSwap.com.)

Review: Everybody Loves Ramen

Everybody Loves Ramen: Recipes, Stories, Games, and FunFacts About the Noodles You Love by Eric Hites
For a tongue-in-cheek cookbook, this turned out to be almost all fluff. Every other page is padded with a recipe journal: When did you serve this dish for the first time? Whom did you share it with?... And most of the 'Ramen Factoids' were stupid: "One pound of ramen noodles weighs the same as one pound of gold. But you can't eat gold." I like silly, but facts like this are lazy. But the book wasn't all terrible. The stories about ramen were fun - college prank type of tales. The title is right: I do love ramen... just not this book. And, I'll admit, I am keeping it for the recipes. (Originally posted as SquareSpot on PaperBackSwap.com.)

Review: Chocolate

Chocolate : A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light 

by Mort Rosenblum 

This is the sort of book that is both satisfying and unsatisfying at the same time. Besides leaving you hungry, it touches on a lot of topics (history, agriculture, botany, cooking, manufacturing, marketing)and covers several continents. Because the author tackles so much, the text often feels fleeting. But I was excited to discover many new leads in reading and eating. A great place to start on "the chocolate trail," but may not satisfy the experienced foodie or the in-depth historian. (Originally posted as SquareSpot on PaperBackSwap.com.)

I love this quote which could apply to so many things in life:

"But as I listened to my various mentors argue away the afternoon, I finally caught on to the basic point of it all. With chocolate, there are no straight answers. There are only strongly held opinions."

Review: 500 Bento Lunches

500 Bento Lunches: 500 Unique Recipes for Brillant Bento 
by Korero Books

This was a lovely book to look at. Small but densely packed with photos, recipes, and directions. The only reason I got rid of my copy is because of the guilt I had for owning such a beautiful cookbook but being too lazy to use it! (Originally posted as SquareSpot on PaperBackSwap.com.)