Book Review: Meanwhile, Back at Café du Monde by Peggy Sweeney-McDonald

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Meanwhile, Back at Café du Monde cover imageAnyone who has ever visited New Orleans has probably also been to Café du Monde, the iconic home of powdered-sugar-drenched beignets and chicory café au lait. Even if you haven’t visited, chances are you have your own Café du Monde, a place you like to go where you love the food and you feel at home when you go there with friends. That’s the spirit author Peggy Sweeny-McDonald captures with her beautiful coffee-table book, Meanwhile, Back at Café du Monde… Life Stories about Food.

Threads of Café du Monde run throughout the book, which even has an introduction from the restaurant’s owner, Karen Benrud, whose grandfather purchased the café in 1942. But most importantly, the stories and recipes are what shine through.

Nearly 70 writers, most from Louisiana, California and New York, weigh in with a story about food, either a special memory, a special dish, or what food has meant to them over the years. Some of the stories are funny, while others are poignant. Some include recipes, including the stories of famed New Orleans restaurateur Leah Chase of Dooky Chase and Michael Regua, executive chef at Antoine’s Restaurant.

I couldn’t wait to try out some of the recipes and I wasn’t disappointed. In addition to the fig preserve cake with chocolate ganache icing and the okra and shrimp casserole I loved, you’ll find others for lasagna, gumbo, cobbler, pralines, biscuits and more. Photos, some from the storyteller’s childhood and others taken by Troy Kleinpeter, capture the spirit of each writer and chronicles the real-life productions where most of these stories were presented before being collected for the book.

Sweeney-McDonald straddles the worlds of Louisiana, where she was born, and California, where she is president of Superstar Events-LA. Her vision led to the start of the shows in 2010. Meanwhile, Back at Café du Monde… can inspire your book club members to talk about their own food stories. You may particularly like the way each story starts out, with the writer saying, “If I were a food, I’d be…” And of course, you could serve some of the yummy recipes to be found inside.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Book Club Recipe: Sweet Corn Bread

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I grew up in the south, where cornbread was frequently served with our meals. Sweet cornbread is interesting to serve as a side to many dishes you serve at book club meetings because it’s different than the normal rolls or French bread, but tasty all the same. Plus you get to say you baked it from scratch (it’s easy!).

Sweet Corn Bread

Serves 8 to 10

  • 1-1/2 cups flour
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • ½ cup yellow corn meal
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1-1/4 cups milk
  • 1 4-ounce can chopped green chiles
  • 1 14.5-ounce can cream-style or regular kernel corn
  • 2 large eggs, slightly beaten
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease an 8-inch-square baking pan.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, corn meal, baking powder and salt. Stir to mix ingredients. In a large bowl, combine milk, green chiles, corn, eggs and vegetable oil. Mix well. Fold in dry ingredients and stir just until blended. Pour into greased pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until top is brown and toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool, cut into squares, and serve with butter and honey.

Book Review and Giveaway: The Clover Tree by Kimberly Foster

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The Clover Tree cover imageOccasionally I accept guest reviews, and I recently received several from moms talking about a book for teens called The Clover Tree by Kimberly Foster. I’m featuring those reviews, along with an offer by Foster to give away 5 autographed copies of The Clover Tree to readers at Mother Daughter Book Club. com. Here’s the synopsis of the book from publisher Balboa Press, followed by the reviews. If you’d like to enter your name to win a copy, just leave a comment here before midnight (PDT), Tuesday, April 9 (U.S. and Canadian addresses only please). (Please note: the giveaway is closed. See the comments for a note on the winners.)

From Balboa Press:

Even a magical clover can’t make adolescence any easier.

Sporty Kate Malone has a powerful ally, full access to a magical clover field. At thirteen, the ability to manifest a pair of designer jeans, an A on a math test, and best yet, a first boyfriend have never been more opportune. Yet Kate’s desire to be popular outweighs the prudent decision to keep her clover field a secret, and she jeopardizes both her popularity and her belief system. Then, in an instant, worrying about sitting at the cool table at lunch is overshadowed by tragedy. Kate strays into a teenage world that is tempting and destructive. Will Kate sabotage her soccer aspirations and friendships? Can she use the power of the clover to save herself?

Reviews from moms in mother-daughter book clubs in Bellevue, Washington:

“We loved this story! Once we “fell into” the book, we couldn’t put it down. It was funny and sad. Although Kate goes through a real hard life experience, The Clover Tree is an inspiring story of setting life goals and staying focused on them. Kate’s relationship with her father is so touching and the story is a reminder of how important family and true friends are in our lives.”  — Brooke and mom, Marie

“My daughter Madelyn took it first and could not put it down. She just kept saying how great it was. She thinks it is geared for her age (14) and REALLY loved it! She finished it in one night.”  — Laura (mom)

Review from Hay House Radio

“Kimberly Foster’s innate ability to write about teen angst is a wonder in itself. Combined with the intricate and complex subject of self-realization and manifestation woven throughout the pages, The Clover Tree becomes much more than your typical teen read. It’s a road map for teens and adults alike.  Embedded in realistic fiction, The Clover Tree teaches tangible tools for reaching your goals and manifesting your dreams in a way that most other teen reads fall short.”  — Jennifer Morris, Co-host of “Bright New Voices, The Balboa Press Hour!”  Hay House Radio

Book Review: The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton by Angela Shelton

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The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton cover image

Tilda Pinkerton lands on the planet of Ooleeoo with a bent light atop her head and no memory of who she is or where she comes from. But she does have a specific flair for making incredible hats that help the wearers bring out their talents. Unbeknownst to Tilda, she is a crucial player in a game of intergalactic warfare, with others of her kind fighting against the evil KOD, who sucks everything good into his black hole.

On Ooleeoo Tilda becomes beloved of children and adults alike, but her enemy is searching for her everywhere, and when he finds her he intends to destroy her.

The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton, Book 1: Crash Landing on Ooleeoo by Angela Shelton is by turns fun to read and thoughtful. Tilda knows just how to bestow her hats to bring out the best of the people who receive them. She won’t make a hat for someone until they are ready to receive it, but since the hatless don’t realize this, jealousy thrives. Before long, some townspeople are spreading rumors about Tilda and turning others against her. It’s an interesting look at how doubt, once created, is hard to dispel even when you know rumors to be untrue.

There are a lot of characters to get to know, and they all have odd names, but really that just adds to the fun. There’s a glossary of names that you can refer to if you need it. Everyone’s name means something, such as Louie Luminiferous, who invents all things light on Ooleeoo, and Belinda Balletomania, who has an obsession with ballet. By the end you’ll be pondering what your special talent may be and wishing for one of Tilda’s hats as well as looking forward to the next book in the series.

The author provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

For more about the author, read her post at Mother Daughter Book Club about the challenges of writing fantasy for children.

 

Book Review: Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle

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Flora and the Flamingo cover imageFlora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle is a picture book in the purest sense: there are only pictures, no words. But the pictures tell a great story of a little girl named Flora who wants to be graceful and sleek and dance like a pink flamingo.

Flora is decked out in flippers, a pink bathing suit and a yellow swimming cap. She approaches the flamingo as the bird sleeps, gracefully balancing on one foot. Flora takes her stance and the flamingo begins to dance. Flora imitates her and the two perform graceful moves until Flora flubs a step and the flamingo makes fun of her. Soon though, the two patch things up and go on to perform flawlessly together.

The illustrations, mostly in pink with white negative space sharpen the focus on the simple lines used to create Flora, the flamingo, and beautiful blossoms on a flowering tree. There are also flaps to look under on many pages, and it’s fun to see that often the story changes when the flap is opened. For instance, one page shows both Flora and the flamingo with their heads tucked to their sides, but when you open the flaps on both of them, you see that they are sneaking peeks at each other.

There’s a great demo video set to music that shows how the book works. Flora and the Flamingo may be just the thing for your budding dancer. It also shows the power of friendship and how friends can bring out our insecurities as well as help us overcome them.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Book Club Recipe: Meat Loaf

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Meat loaf is a great comfort food to serve for your book club members. Plus, it’s easy to prepare in advance, put in your freezer, then pop it into the oven to cook so the wonderful aroma will greet your hungry readers when they walk in the door. Here’s one of my favorite recipes. You can make it healthier by substituting turkey for ground beef. In my house, ground turkey has even become the favorite over ground beef.

Meat Loaf

Serves 6 to 8

For meat loaf:

  • 2 pounds ground beef or turkey
  • 1 egg
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup dried bread crumbs
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ¾ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 14-oz can tomato sauce

For topping:

  • 3 tablespoons deli-style mustard
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • ½ cup ketchup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, combine all the meatloaf ingredients and mix well. Place into a lightly greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

In a separate bowl, combine the topping ingredients and spoon over the meatloaf. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour.

 

Interview with Bernadette Noll, Author of Slow Family Living

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Bernadette NollYesterday, I featured a review of Slow Family Living: 75 Simple Ways to Slow Down, Connect, and Create More Joy by Bernadette Noll. Today, Bernadette is stopping by Mother Daughter Book Club. com to talk about the Slow Family Movement, her book, and what families can do to bring more joy into their lives.

What inspired you to create SlowFamilyLiving.com?

BN: I was working with Carrie Contey giving a workshop on Creating a Family Mission Statement. The resounding theme was that people were feeling overwhelmed by external pressures from society/media/friends/family to do things a certain way, to sign up, enlist, and jump on board even when they didn’t really want to. We joked that like Slow Food there needed to be Slow Family which would allow people to connect to the process and find joy in the day to day. That afternoon we wrote the manifesto and Slow Family Living was born!

What do you think presents the biggest challenge to families being able to slow down?

BN: Perhaps the biggest challenge is that we are constantly getting messages delivered to us that make us live in fear that if we don’t sign up, jump on, enlist NOW we,  and our children, are at risk of being left behind. Marketers spend billions making us feel that way. The media works hard to tell us that we are not doing enough to stay safe, stay smart, stay well. In my book I really focus on offering ideas and inspiration to help families pause and tune into self so that they can figure out what they really and truly want for themselves and for their family.

Why do you think it’s important for families to spend less time on the go and have more down time together?

BN: I think in our modern day society we tend to give family time the last available time slot. I really think families can find great joy and connection in each other, great strength too, and I think the way to find that is to give family time priority and make sure that it holds a rightful place in our schedules. It’s not so much about having more down time, although for us as a family that is the goal, it is about finding the time to create connection now, while you’re all under one roof, so that down the road, when everyone is grown, you can have that connection in place. If you think of parenting as a 12” ruler, we really only get about ¼” with our children in our homes. The rest of the time they are out on their own. So what kind of connection do you want with these people with whom you will be adults for 40, 50 years? I really don’t want to add more pressure to do things a certain way, rather I wrote this book hoping to give parents ideas and permission even to do things their own way.

How do you see moms and dads using your book to simplify their lives?

BN: I offer lots of ideas for people to find ways to slow down, connect and really and truly see each other. My goal is that people use it not as a prescription but as a book of recipes which they can use, mix up a bit, and add in the ingredients in their own families and homes. I have things in the book that offer real practical ideas and other things that are more about a feeling. I grew up in a super connected family and lots of these ideas come from that experience. I think sometimes as parents we think parenting has to be cranky or joyless, when we live it in joy it is just that much more fun. So I offer ways to find joy in the day to day and to still get sh*t done!

When you decided to slow things down, was it difficult getting buy in from your husband and your kids?

BN: It wasn’t really a new idea in our home because it’s what I always wanted for my own family. I came from this idea that you could live family life with intention and with celebration. Randomly my family resists something I bring to the table – and I have to be willing to take their desires and needs into consideration!

In your own family, with four children and two busy parents, do you find you have to keep reminding yourself to reassess the commitments that make life busy?

Absolutely! And in fact, this is one of the main points I hope people take away from this book – the idea that on a regular basis you pause, check in with yourself and with the members of the family and ask, “Is what we’re doing really working for us?” And we use the moods in the house as a barometer for how it’s going. When we’re all cranky with each other we know it’s time to reign it in a bit!

So many families seem to be overscheduled and stressed out from it, yet there’s often a lot of pressure from other parents, teachers, team coaches and others to sign up for activities and events that take a big chunk of time. Do you have any advice on how to resist that pressure?

BN: This exact question is one of the main reasons we started Slow Family and why I wrote this book. My book and my website offer lots of tools for dealing with this pressure. The slow in Slow Family is about pausing and checking in with yourself and asking, “What do WE want?” Then looking down the road a few years and figuring out what your goals are. I also have a Family Mission Statement workbook on my site that helps families really tune into what they want, what they value, and how they want to feel in this whole lovely life.

How do you deal with the feeling of “missing out” that may come from turning down activities?

BN: We really don’t miss out on much that we really want to do. That was an interesting realization too because we thought that would be an issue. Instead we found great relief in the fact that we are assessing each thing and figuring out if we really, really want to attend. In the beginning my husband thought it might upset others when I said, “we’re gonna take it slow this weekend.” But really, I think people were relieved to know that that was a valid excuse to use. And then they used it too!

The subtitle of your book suggests that slowing down can help create more joy in a family. What do you mean by “joy” and how do you see that happening?

BN: There is so much to do in family life and we have a choice about how we approach it. We can moan about how much work we have to do or we can find ways to inject a little fun and to do things together. Not only do we ease our load but we can find connection and joy in the process. Our Family Blitz is a prime example of this. The house gets messy as any parent well knows. Rather than me feeling cranky, we can call BLITZ! Set the timer for 15, 20 minutes and it’s all hands on deck for a quick tidy. It’s easier and when things are easier there is just inherently more joy. When we are less stressed and less overwhelmed, joy is a natural by-product.

Do you have anything else you’d like to say to readers at Mother Daughter Book Club.com?

BN: There is no guilt over “doing it wrong” – rather there is understanding that if it feels wrong, whatever it is, we can tweak it to make it work for us. As individuals and as a family. And trust too that YOU KNOW BEST what your family needs and wants. And how you feel can be the supreme guide!

 

Book Review: Slow Family Living by Bernadette Noll

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Slow Family Living cover imageIf you ever feel that family life is like being on a speeding treadmill in a never-ending rush from one chore or activity to another, take heart. A book by Bernadette Noll, cofounder of SlowFamilyLiving.com, has a few ideas for how to slow that treadmill run to a walk.

Noll and her husband have four children and plenty of family commitments, so she’s had experience juggling schedules and slowing her own family life down so both parents and children can spend time together, getting to know one another and developing healthy bonds. As part of SlowFamilyLiving.com, she’s given workshops to other parents on achieving a slower pace in their own lives.

Noll’s book, Slow Family Living: 75 Simple Ways to Slow Down, Connect, and Create More Joy, brings her suggestions to everyone who needs them. Noll is quick to say that she doesn’t have all the answers and her guide is only a start to implementing small changes that can bring big changes for families. Yet the simple suggestions found in its pages are likely to generate even more ideas from harried moms and dads who read them.

Noll doesn’t suggest dropping out of activities all together, rather she suggests an approach that asks parents and children to consider the things that are most important to them, and then implement changes that will make sure those are the things that get done.

For instance, Noll says one of the questions to be asked with any family routine or activity is, “Is this working for us?” Too often we make commitments or accept invitations without considering the impact it has on the rest of our time. Noll suggests not answering right away when offered the opportunity to take on something new. Instead, she recommends taking time to reflect on how the new thing will relate to everything else going on and if it’s truly worth it.

The short, simple suggestions found in Slow Family Living are easy to digest quickly then return to and ponder for a while. After all, Noll knows that what works in one family may not work for another. She doesn’t give set prescriptions, rather she invites parents to think about what’s important in their own lives and gives them ideas for how to achieve it. Slow Family Living is a resource you’ll want to keep handy to refer to often as you work to create the kind of family life you want to be happy with as your children grow.

Check back tomorrow when Bernadette Noll visits Mother Daughter Book Club.com to talk abut her book and the Slow Family lifestyle.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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