Citizen Beta

I am at Dotmoms today.

I just finished a review for Bookreporter so am in the book reviewing mood.

What I am reading? What have I read?

First, I want to start with the promised review of The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine. Now, I am not one to dis another mom trying to get her kids to eat healthy. While it has always been important to me to feed L with healthy (preferably organic) food, requests for juice boxes and lollipops are becoming more common around here and of course I sometimes give in. Like most preschoolers, she is a picky eater so I do the best I can. While she will eat some green things (peas and edamame mostly) and likes fresh fruit, if I ask her what she wants to eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner she usually replies “peanut butter on a plate” and when the other day at preschool her class made a yummy veggie and noodle soup from ingredients they shopped for on a field trip to an Asian market, her teacher said when he put a bowl before her she looked at it “with anger.” All that being said, I really wanted to like The Sneaky Chef, but, alas, I did not.

This is not a new idea, to sneak healthy food into food kids will actually eat. In fact, not only do I practice this but I even wrote about it quite a while ago for Dotmoms. Second, Lapine’s assumption is that your kid will eat things like chicken tenders, meatloaf, and baked ziti. I guess most kids will. Mine won’t. Perhaps these recipes are intended for older kids? And how old are they before you stop sneaking the nutrition in? That leads me to my next critique: as I said, I am all for sneaking some healthy stuff in to what is sure to be eaten (for example, boiling mac and cheese in vegetable broth instead of water) but I also put asparagus right there on her plate. I can’t force her to eat it but feel it is important to always offer it. Eating healthy has to be normal otherwise the kid will never develop the habit, right? Okay, just two more complaints…Of the about 70 recipes in the book, about 10 have chocolate in them and others include ice cream, spaghetti-o’s, ranch dressing, cookies, and about 20 ways to make potatoes or pasta. It just doesn’t seem well balanced to me, it doesn’t do anything to expand the kids horizon, food-wise. Are you still with me? I doubt it. Wake up! One last thing. The how of the whole thing is totally absurd. If there is one thing a parent stressed out and sleepy and trying to get their kid to eat a veggie, any vegetable at all, doesn’t need, it is more work. To sneak the good stuff in, Lapine would have us create on of her 10 purees or juices to hide in the mac and cheese. For example, the “orange puree” is sweet potatoes and carrots which need to be cooked, drained, run through the food processor, and stored in ¼ cup portions to be added to things like french toast (?), pizza bagels, frank-n-beans (blech), meatloaf, or, hold on now, peanut butter cookies. Too much work. No thank you. My methods are easier. Cut up some broccoli and just mix it in with the spaghetti or pizza sauce—looks like oregano! Make sweet potato french fries. Whatever. I guess if it works for Lapine and works for you that is great. But, the book costs almost 20 dollars and for that kind of money I expect more original ideas and more efficient methods.

But, hey! Guess what. I actually read a book I did like. Because I am on this medieval kick and the books I already owned on the period left me unsatisfied, I had to buy more. More MORE! I just finished Morris Bishops, The Middle Ages. It was written in 1963 so is a bit socio-culturally outdated and it is a bit fawning over the awesomeness of Christianity but if you can get past all that it is a really readable and informative, non-textbook format look at the Middle Ages. I found it very interesting indeed. Now I am reading Thomas Cahill’s Mysteries of the Middle Ages which as a great sensational title but it is pretty straightforward so far. It is also wonderfully illustrated throughout with a nod to the illuminated manuscripts of the time. Next up is Life in a Medieval City by the Gies whose book on Medieval women I like a lot. Then, perchance, I will read some fiction…

Actually I did read The Blood of Roses recently for Bookreporter and you can read my review here. I had the chance to interview the author as well and will link to that when it is published.

What are you reading?

Some of my favorite sites to visit are the daily city photo sites from around the world. They are photo blogs which show cities and towns from the perspective of a particular photographer. I especially like to check out the cities I have lived in or traveled to, but I also like to scope out other places and dream about going there. The site for the city I live in is good—but it focuses on nature shots (mountains, mesas, sunsets, et cetera). We have a lot of “nature” here but the city itself is funky and unique (if not rundown and a bit burly). So, I am kicking off my own version of the daily city photo: a photo or two a week of things I like around here or things that catch my eye. I have to admit I am really visually attracted to urban decay—crumbling buildings, abandoned shopping carts and the like. But I also like signs and murals. I also have to admit I am not a good photographer really and have a pretty basic camera. Also, because I usually have a couple of ragamuffins with me wherever I go, many pictures will be taken from inside my car. Let’s pretend that that is part of my “visual style.”

I have started collecting a few images for this project within a project but I knew the first picture had to be the Simpson’s graffiti. This little mural is in an alley just a block or two from the University. It has been here, unmolested, for at least 15 years I’d say. And, yes, I did snap this one from inside my car!

The first and only time Lilith and I have spent the night apart is the night Adina was born. Until this past weekend. Dan took Lilith camping, just the two of them, and I had over 24 hours to hang out with Adina and basically do whatever I wanted around the house. I will admit that what I wanted to do was just sit and watch TV. In my pajamas. And eat lots of starchy foods. That was fun for a few hours and though I remained essentially in pajamas the whole time I did manage to be a little productive. I got some questions ready for an upcoming author interview, I cleaned the computer room (this took hours), I did laundry and I read (still reading through my pile of books on the Middle Ages). And, I gave Adina lots of undivided attention.

I also watched a movie that I have had recorded for about a year, “Nowhere in Africa.” I knew Dan would never watch it with me so this was the perfect chance. This is a very interesting alternative to the typical Holocaust story. In fact, the Holocaust is basically a backdrop: a middle class Jewish family from Breslau flees the Nazis in 1938 and go to Kenya to run a farm for the British landowners there. It is basically an exploration of “otherness” and I think a very successful one. There are so many layers of identity that the characters must deal with and I found it very genuine and although it could easily have been sappy, it wasn’t. Plus, it was well acted and visually beautiful.

I also started to watch Foxes with Jody Foster because I thought it was Little Darlings.

After a couple days of cooling rain, the sunshine is back but I’ve no time to enjoy it. Besides the usual work and review responsibilities there is a lot going on this week and I am without childcare on Monday and Wednesday as C is on vacation. My list of things to do includes thank you cards from L’s birthday, mailing new pictures of the girls to family members, lots of housework, cooking or buying something for a mid-week potluck dinner and something very big that, I am sorry to say, I cannot write about yet. I will give you a couple hints: I had to buy new clothes and I have spent the past week reading books about the Middle Ages. No, it is not an SCA event, I hope you know me better than that by now (no offence SCA people, it is just not my thing, you know).

One thing making life easier this week is that our kitchen is done! Okay, well, we still have to install the range hood and put a light above the sink, but we actually have a sink now, and counter tops! I wish I could say I was inspired to cook or bake but I am not. Still, the kitchen looks great and I am ready to move on to the next home improvement project…maybe I will wait just a little while.

Pictures of new counters on the “remodel” page on the right-hand side menu.

I have not been reading much fiction lately. The last two novels I read were Rant and The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. You can read my thoughts on the Palahniuk here. I don’t want to spend much time on TMKD because, honestly, I didn’t like it. I just didn’t get what would motivate this father to give away his daughter and then lie to his wife and say she died. Okay, his sister died young so he had that hang up and the baby girl had Down Syndrome and her twin brother was healthy…But, to just give her away and live your life like she was dead? If you have read it and liked it I would love to hear why!

On to the non-fiction. I finally finished Jared Diamond’s Collapse which was very interesting but not as good as his famous Guns, Germs and Steel. It was a little dry and repetitive but it was an interesting blend of anthropology, history, ecology and other sciences and I was particularly interested in his discussion on why some Viking societies succeeded and others failed.

My favorite recent book is The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan although I know I am a bit late to this bandwagon. Pollan traces four meals back to their origins and examines each type of food production for its social, ecological and health implications. It is really fascinating and not a bit dry. In fact, it is quite funny in parts. I have been talking D’s ear off about this book since I finished it last week and really hope he reads it so we can talk about it instead of me talking at him about it! I learned a lot, especially about conventional agriculture in the US and the monoculture of corn. In the past week I have been thinking about the sources and contents of my food in new ways. I highly recommend this book.  The hyper-link above goes to Amazon.com which has a good interview with Michael Pollaby Bill Maher which gives you a good sense of some of the ideas in the book.

I also just finished Katie Roiphe’s latest which I will be reviewing soon, but I will tell you now that it was good and I only wish it was longer.

Next up on the reading list: finish The Great Transformation by Karen Armstrong, try out ideas from The Sneaky Chef which I got as a gift last night (I hope to write about it here next week).

I really want to pick up a few (preferably used) novels to supplement the review books and work-related non-fiction I will be reading this summer. Any suggestions?

And, a final note to say I have added a page (see menu on left) called “remodel” with pictures of the in-progress kitchen remodel. Counter tops and new sink will be installed on Wednesday so I will be updating there soon.