The vendors were not as generous this year at ALA as they have been in the past. Obviously, a sign of our current economy. I did score this adorable children's book. It is signed by the author (sorry, he signed it to me). He is the author and the illustrator and a very nice man to boot.
If you want it leave a comment that you do. I'll be picking the winner on Wednesday next week. I'm pretty sure I'll use some scientific random quantifiable method of picking the winner. Name out of a hat on a drunken Tuesday night usually works for me. Anyone got a problem with that?
Love, M
PS: if you are from anywhere outside of the U.S. and Canada I'm going to have to disqualify you. The shipping would probably wipe me out. I'm really sorry but I blame the post office, the bad economy, my bank that won't credit millions of dollars into my account then graciously forget about it, and the fact that I haven't won the lottery even though I never buy a ticket. Shouldn't this be intuitive?
I learned some fabulous things in Chicago this past weekend. Very important part of being a librarian, learnin'. Want to hear about some of the things I learned in Chi town?
1. The cab drivers are unfriendly maniacs. They have two speeds. Fast and stop. They jackrabbit from the traffic lights then slam on their brakes at the next traffic light. They are not friendly. They barely say a word to you. There is not a Chatty Cathy in the bunch.
2. When a sales lady where you just bought your husband a Cubs t-shirt on Wacker drive and Michigan tells you that the nearest bookstore is only a few blocks up Michigan Ave, "it's an easy walk, dear", don't believe her. It is a really really long walk past Saks, Nieman Marcus, and Nordstroms. I can prove this with my credit card statement. The bookstore is actually across the street from Macy's and the Water Tower. Turns out it is 11 blocks or about 2 miles. After the 5 miles I had walked earlier this was 2 miles too many. I took a scary cab back to the hotel.
3. Downtown Chicago restaurants are thieves. When a portabella mushroom burger, fries, and 2 glasses of wine makes a $30 bill, not including tip. Thank you very much!. That is what I call thievery. Cup of coffee (not at Starbleechs) $3, microwaved egg & cheese croissant $7, pasta thing with grilled veggies, $19 (does not come with a salad). I shot through a couple of hundred bucks pretty quick.
4.The best thing about the Navy Pier. Your looking at it. The view is fantastic. Enuf said!
5. The best art supply stores (yes, my credit card took yet another hit here) are right next to the lovely Art Institute. A must see BTW! Not the art store, the art museum. The grounds are also quite lovely.
6. The number one best thing I did in Chicago was........wait for it.......Taking the evening Architectural boat tour on the Chicago river. Go to the one below the Michigan street bridge. Our tour guide was getting his Masters in History and really knew his stuff. It was $22 well spent.
There you have it. I'm still recovering so don't expect much out of me until next week. I would have kept in better touch while I was gone but the cost for internet access at our hotel was $13 a day plus tax. More than breakfast but less than lunch. I had to eat you know.
I have a Friday Foodie coming up. This Friday is Carmelized Onions. Oh Yeah!!!!
Love,
M
Oh I forgot. If you are interested in contributing a recipe or two to the new blog please email it to me. I'm collecting them.
My wonderful blog friend Linda grows the beans I used in this recipe on her family farm in western Colorado. She scoured her neighborhood of bean farmers for beans of every variety for me. There is nothing so great as coming home to a package on the doorstep but to have it include 5 or 6 varieties of beans is a bonus. She is totally enabling my bean obsession.
Linda's husband Terry has to eat gluten free. So anytime I can find a recipe that she can make for him I send it off. I think this one fits the bill. Oh and it's pretty tasty to boot.
I'm pretty lame. I didn't take any pictures so I had to cruise the interwebs for anything that looked close to what I made.
Brown Rice with Beans
1 1/2 cup cooked brown rice 1 cup soaked and cooked beans 1 clove garlic, minced 1/4 onion, chopped 1/4 cup Pepper Jack cheese, shredded 3/4 Low-fat or fat-free ricotta cheese 4 slices or 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat with cooking spray a small Pyrex baking dish. About 6 X 6. Mix together rice, beans, garlic, and onion in a small dish. In another small dish mix pepper jack cheese and ricotta cheese. Layer 1/2 of the rice-bean mixture in the bottom of the baking dish. Spread all of the cheese mixture over the first mixture. Cover with the second half of the rice-bean mixture.
Bake for 15 minutes. Sprinkle or layer the cheddar cheese over the top and bake 5 minutes more.
Serves 4
*I long soaked the beans. Do you want me to send instructions on how to do this? You could also use canned. * Like your food a little spicier? Add a little crushed red pepper flakes, a pinch of cayenne, or a drop or two of hot sauce to the bean mixture. *You could even throw some cooked broccoli in this. That would be oh so yummy.
This recipe is packed with protein and fiber, the two things that make it worth it's weight at the dinner table. It also would make a terrific meatless Monday meal.
Quick question for you all. If I start another blog of just recipes would anyone of you want to contribute recipes? We could make it a collaborative effort. What do you think? Anyone game?
It's looking a little bit better. From the nasty photos we've seen online I'm still a little worried. The Boy looked up in his medical journals and databases all the must do medical type things for Brown Recluse spider bites. He's been throwing around fancy medical words and pretty much treating this as a learning experience. As soon as he started feeling well again that is. According to what we've read this sore could take up to 4 weeks to heal.
I totally called it when I handed him 4 Benadryl and a glass of water. I should have been a doctor.
Librarian Doctor! She looks up what ails you!
That has a nice superhero ring to it. Think the major networks would pick it up?
The part could be played by some sexy actress (All superwomen should be played by sexy actresses). Her hair in a bun, glasses on a chain, a stethoscope tucked into her lab coat pocket which hides her sensible jumper. By day she's a mild mannered librarian but when someone is in distress (which she can hear with her ultrasonic hearing because she hasn't screwed it up by working in an environment with a lot of noise. All that shushing is paying off) She pulls out her stethoscope, whips off her glasses and runs to the rescue in her sensible low-heeled shoes.
What does this have to do with his toe. Nothing. As he says; "You've got to make it all about you". Yeah, well it's my blog.
With frequent doses of Benadryl, gargling and rinsing with Hydrogen Peroxide (just don't swallow it) and elevating his foot. He is now feeling so much better. He's been able to eat solid food, can move around without feeling like an arthritis victim, and his head is not threatening to fall off his neck. Of course, he can't put shoes on yet. Or at least that was his excuse for why he didn't take the garbage out.
Thank you all for your concern. Saturday was pretty scary. I kept waking him up like he was a baby that you worry has stopped breathing though they never do but you have to check on them anyway.
I'm so lame I actually forgot to put the button on my Random Tuesday Thoughts. Then again I also forgot to mention that RTT is Random Tuesday Thoughts and that it host by Keely of the Un Mom fame. So like here's the button:
Head over to read all the craziness that is RTT at Keely's place.
I'm posting everything for the this week over the weekend. On Thursday I'm flying up to Chicago for the American Library Association annual conference. I'm planning 5 fun filled days of meetings, sessions, and professional networking. If life is good and the vendors are generous I'll be giving away books after the 16th.
JR and I were driving home from the beach in our 14 year old POS Mercury Sable
(hey, it's paid for). Here is a snippet of our conversation
JR: There's a Sable
Me: Uh uh (barely looking up from my book because damn It's a car).
JR: It's considerably newer than ours.
As we pass the car in question I notice that the driver is a very elderly woman (or it probably was, all I could really see were knuckles and white hair) and the passenger is a very very elderly and sleepy man. We passed the car because they were driving about 20 miles an hour under the speed limit as the elderly are want to do.
Me: OMG, we're driving a grandma and grandpa car!
JR: chuckling
Me: We need to buy a new car as soon as possible. What car screams "midlife crises" the loudest?
JR: Anything other than what we are driving. I think he heard what he wanted.
To the Brown Recluse Spider that bit The Boy on Saturday:
Are you proud of yourself? There he was sleeping in his own bed. Not threatening you at all but you had to go ahead a bite him anyway. You little F*&ker! Now, The boy is laying on my sofa, sucking down antihistamine and aspirin, and elevating the foot you bit. The whole right side of his body hurts, he can barely swallow because his tongue has swollen and the headache you inflicted is excruciating.
FYI, JR has sprayed around the whole house; inside and out. You and your buddies are done for. I am not feeling sorry for you. I hope your death is painful; you 8 legged bastard.
Signed, The obviously over-protected and pissed off mother
I'm very conflicted I do not want to be a cooking blog. There are enough of those out there. Unfortunately, I have about 10 different recipe posts ready to be uploaded. About 4 times a week I make a dinner that qualifies as blog worthy. Since blogger hates me and will not allow me to add a page (or I'm too lazy too figure it out). I will have to start a whole new blog in order to post these on a separate page. I have resisted for a long time but I think I will have to get my own website and do some coding. I hate coding. Even something as easy as html. Coding makes me want to drink (shut up. Not everything makes me WANT to drink. Most of the time it's a choice).
My sister-in-law is from Peru which makes English her second language. It shows. Even after years of speaking English she makes the most wonderful mistakes. Her use of metaphors is legendary. Here's an example:
"He is so nice and so generous he'll take the shirt off your back."
Now, that is enough out of me; go on, read some of the other randomness over at Keely's shop. Or as my sister-in-law says: Spread out.
I hope everyone had a nice 4th of July weekend or Canada day or just the weekend. Ours was fairly uneventful. Just a nice quiet 3 dayer.
Here is how it shaped up.
Friday: JR and I drove down to Corpus Christi to get a little beach time. It is a 3 hour drive but well worth it. The water is very warm which amazed us. We're from the Seattle area originally. When you drive 3 hours to get to an actual beach you don't get in the water. Unless of course, you want to freeze you feet off. The rule about wading in the Pacific Ocean on the Washington beaches is "once your feet are numb you're good to go deeper". Not the case here in Texas. The water is warm, the sand is soft and the sky is blue. I'll post pics later this week when I get off my lazy rear end and upload them from my camera.
Saturday: Was our lazy day (most all days for me are lazy but on the weekends I like to suck JR into the vortex). We started out how we start every Saturday; sitting on the back patio drinking coffee. JR will be reading a book and lazily throwing the ball for Nessa. Her ball OCD knows no bounds. I will be painting with my little watercolour set.
I picked up this travel watercolour set in Austin, TX when I was bored at a conference and I love love love it. I plan to take it with me to Chicago this week. Though I doubt I'll have much time for painting. Here is this weekend's art project:
It is my interpretation of a work by Maurice de Vlaminck called View of the Seine. I sort of like how it turned out.
Sunday: was spent doing another two favorite things, shopping for computer stuff and cooking. I scored some onions at a farm stand on the way home from Waco last week. So what does one do with several pounds of onions? Why, caramelize them. I now have enough caramelized onions for french onion soup and stuffed portabella mushrooms for dinners this week. Yummy! I'll post pics of this also. See lazy ass statement above.
I also bought one of these: My new little baby is an HP Mini. 10.1 inches of fun. Uhhhh...IRS agent this computer is work related and I will be taking it off on my taxes. Thankyouverymuch.
This ought to make conference going less of a hassle.
So that pretty much takes care of my weekend. Just got back from taking JR to the airport for his week long working stint in Dallas and I best get ready for work. Have to pay for the little baby computer I just bought.
What did you do over the weekend?
Love, M
PS. Lest, you forget it is Meatless Monday today. The day to resist meat in favor of yummy meatless goodies. Because, really! Didn't you have enough over the weekend?
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