You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December 2011.
The delight of early winter consists not only in the anticipation of wrapped goodies on Christmas morning, but in the layers of sense memories conjured up all around us.
:: scents of cinnamon and ginger ::
:: tastes of mint and chocolate ::
:: the warmth of wool mittens ::
:: tunes to hum along with ::
:: friends to hug ::
I’ve already blogged some of our favourite recipes. And I’ve already extolled the bright delights of sugarplums, an unexpected addition to our traditions that was previously only a nostalgic concept.
Today I’d like to share a recipe for a savoury delight: Roasted Eggplant Spread. It’s easy, luscious, and ridiculously low-calorie. (Did you hear that? That was the angel choir.) I’ve altered the original recipe enough to be able to share it here.
Roasted Eggplant Spread
2 medium eggplants
1 onion
15 large or 20 medium green olives
1 bunch fresh basil
1 tsp salt
Cut the eggplant in half, lengthwise and place cut-side down on a cookie pan with parchment paper or other non-stick surface. Skin and quarter the onion and place in tinfoil on the same pan. Roast at 375F for 30-40 min (fork tender). Allow to cool.
Scoop the eggplant flesh into a blender or food processor. Add everything else. Now whirl until it’s not quite smooth – you’ll enjoy a bit of texture in this. Let it sit for at least 30 min.
It makes 6 1/2c servings. Use it as a dip or as a spread it on bread or pitas.
I don’t have a charming photo of this spread because I took a bit of a risk this year and tossed it in the freezer. The To Do list was becoming a bit of a ‘Suicide by Over-Committing’ list, and so I’ve moved as much as possible forwards on the calendar. Besides, it’s a roasted eggplant recipe – pretty isn’t exactly the first word that leaps to mind. Garnish with red pepper and a bit of basil.
Said to Sandra, who’d stated that she wanted a route for our long run that contained no hills: “I want to run to here, and along there, and there’s only one hill. OK?”
“Only one,” she retorted. “It’s only one apocalypse…”
two sunrises, a sunbeam stretching halfway across the house with the sun low in the sky even at noon, lights along the stairs
It’s the time of year when the slant, shades, timing and colour of light preoccupy me.
I had a great moment the other day. There was a phone call, and I was dreading answering it a bit because I didn’t recognize the name. I volunteer as a breastfeeding counselor, and I was thinking it might be an emotional or complicated call right at supper.
Instead of a teary mother, it was a quavering voice, sweet and soft. An older woman. She had a few questions about the squares. Her daughter had seen the poster up at the local Fair Trade shop and brought the idea to her. She was so pleased to hear about it because she is now legally blind and dislikes being inactive. “Just sitting about isn’t at all my thing.”
She wondered about shipping and the cost of it, so I offered to pick them up and send them along with the shipment of my own that I’ve been stockpiling for 6 months. Guess how many she had to send.
50.
And since I said I wasn’t shipping mine for a few weeks, she said she’d keep working at it. Oh, and she’d tell the other women at her support group. “Some of them are 100, but they’re still sharp and they might like something to do.”
I’ve got about 30 of my own, and expect at least a few more from the appeal I sent out to my local homeschool email group. But after that phone call I couldn’t leave it at that and now I want to add at least a few more. The latest ezine that KAScare put out was particularly motivating. The photos of people who volunteer to tackle the mountain of squares and the photos of kids just swathed in layers of yarn were just wonderful. I decided to try my hand at crocheting them because my ‘To Knit’ list is getting overwhelming and it feels like I’m playing hokey from responsibility this way. I am enjoying the way that crochet feels like building with Lego blocks as you build stitch by stitch.
The pattern is the Chain Stitch Square.
Which is just to encourage you in what you do. I had grand plans to get the posters to all the major churches in town, but haven’t managed yet. But even the few posters I had distributed made a difference. Little things really do add up. Squares really do become blankets. Posters really do change the world. Conversations really do spark compassion.
There’s been enough interest in this idea that I’m posting my list for everyone who wants a poke at it. It is, of course, a highly subjective list based on books we have in the house or in the library, and based on my gut feeling for books for this 12 year-0ld boy. I’ve starred the books Tias chose.
zombie babies eat your brains
If you’re looking for a resource that can help you determine a book’s reading level and interest level, I’ve just discovered Book Wizard. It also has the Book Alike feature that allows you look for similar books and even set the difficulty level up or down from that book.
The links are to GoodReads.
These first three are Usborne books because I have never found better books to entice my kids when they lacked confidence.
- The Cricket in Times Square*
- Farmer Boy
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (it was originally meant to be the Borrowers, but I couldn’t find it on the day)
- Harry Potter
- The Rescuers
- Dark Life (originally meant to be the Narnia book but I had to use it earlier, and besides, I feel that the non-Potter choices are pretty much there for decoration. Who knows…he could surprise me.)
Isn’t it lovely when something works? This year, choices are giving confidence to Tias.
His eye troubles are pretty much resolved and he’s been out of vision therapy for a while. What he needed was confidence and gumption. He would face a page of text and define it as being far too hard for him. He’d panic. He’d reject. He was stuck on Geronimo Stilton. They are great books, and they helped him see that thicker books didn’t have to intimidate, but he needed to be able to move on.
This summer I hatched a plan. A cunning plan. A plan so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel.
He gets choice, but carefully constructed choice. I made a list of books in groups of three. The first two groups were below the level he felt comfortable with so that he’d start it off with a bang, and so he’d get in the habit of going off and reading a chapter when I told him to. Til now, he’d preferred to read for time (and as little time as I’d agree to).
Each set got a little harder. But within each set he had choice. It’s been so fascinating to watch his decision-making process. Often his choices have surprised me. This last time, he chose The Cricket in Times Square, but until he did the big reveal (and you know it’s got to have a big reveal) I thought the allure of Narnia would win. Farmer Boy, with its thickness and its general lack of either giggles or compelling plot, was the least likely in my eyes.
The last set of three contains Harry Potter, a landmark book in his eyes. He tried to read it two years ago and was beaten back by lack of confidence with pages and pages of text.
