Read: Next

Next by Michael Crichton
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Bought this book for 50 cents at a garage sale down the block. It was an easy read, and there were some typical Crichton plot devices (everything goes to hell all at once). But there were way too many characters to keep straight, and it wasn't evident how they tied together, other than some sort of genetic modification being part of their story. And in the end things didn't get totally wrapped up for all the characters. I still don't know why the genetically modified turtles were in the book.

This book came out in 2006, before the oil spill, so I thought it was funny that one of his genetically modified underwater organisms was a coral that would glow "BP Clean."

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Read: A Visit from the Goon Squad

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book because it was on the shelf at the library next to The Keep, and I recognized the title as having one the Pulitzer Prize for fiction last year (mainly because Jezebel had done a post about how the media covered her win -- including running a photo of the guy who didn't win with the story instead of a photo of her). Anyway.

The book is basically a collection of short stories that have overlapping characters. It also floats through time or is not linear. It's an interesting construct, although it was confusing at the beginning of some chapters to figure out who was who (especially the narrator) and how people fit in with the characters from other chapters.

I liked it a lot, and I think it would be fun to try to read all of the Pulitzer Prize winning books from the last ~30 years or more. Maybe something to do in my spare time.

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Recipe Reviews: Brown Sugar Chicken & Enchilada Casserole

Another day, another crock pot recipe. I had high hopes for this brown sugar chicken recipe. But it wasn't as great as I was hoping. I used chicken breast tenders, which fell apart. That was OK, since it just looked like shredded chicken. We ate it over rice and it had an OK flavor, but it needed some veggies -- or something.

Shawn made sandwiches with the leftovers for lunch, so I guess that's good to get double duty out of it. But in all likelihood I won't be making it again. It was fun to pour Sprite into the mix and see it bubble!

I made the chicken in one of the plastic slow cooker liners. I am starting to think that might not be wise. Who knows if the plastic is BPA free? If I won't microwave in plastic surely I shouldn't slow cook in it. So the next things I've made in my crock pot were straight in the pot.

The next was enchilada casserole, and it was pretty tasty. I forgot to put in the beans, but that was OK. And the tortillas in the middle kind of disintegrated so it was this tasty corn-mealy texture in that layer. We ate most of it and there was enough for lunch the next day. The beans would have stretched it further and probably added another layer of yumminess plus more fiber and nutrition. Next time.

White House Greetings

Jane got a special card yesterday -- from the White House. I know it's just a mass message that they send, and somewhere an intern's job is to hand address responses to these requests and slip in the printed cards. It's still cool, and I think I will frame the card. The envelope (which I almost posted a picture of until I realized that it includes her full name and address ... d'oh) is a little grungy. Thanks USPS. :)

Want to get your own card from the White House greetings office? These are the instructions I followed (I did the snail mail route):

Once your baby is born, mail your request to:

    White House Greetings Office

    Room 39

    Washington, DC 20500

Alternatively, you can fax your request to 202-456-2461.  Include the following information in your request:

    * Name and address of the baby
    * Exact date of birth
    * Your (requestor) name and daytime phone number
    * Both parents' names
    * Any additional mailing instructions (if other than baby’s residence)

They'll send greetings for other things too. And I think it's v. weird that there's no online form option. Because who uses a fax machine these days?

On the Record

Advocate Staff Photo

Last week Jane and I went to a Baby Sign language class at our local library. We learned the signs for four animals: cat, dog, rabbit, turtle.

A reporter and photographer from the Baton Rouge Advocate were there. Our picture was taken, and the reporter spoke to us after the program. The article ran today, and Jane's name was in the paper for the first time.

We're rounding up copies to put in her baby book and send to my Gran. I can't guarantee the link will always be up! I also screen captured the photo so I could keep it digitally.

Maybe in a few more months we'll try to catch one of the real classes that are offered. The words I really want her to know how to sign are "more," "all done," "hungry," "tired," etc.

Read: The Keep

The Keep by Jennifer Egan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book got a glowing review on a blog that I read. So when I saw it was on the shelf at my local library I picked it up when I was there for a baby sign language program last week.

I finished it w/in 24 hours of starting it, so it's a quick read, although I tried to slow myself down to try to pay more attention to the language. It's stories within a story and is more than a little bizarre. The hardest part to get used to was the lack of quotation marks in most of the dialogue.

Its cool cover was intriguing to Shawn, but I'm not sure that he'll read it.

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Recipe Review: No-Hurry Vegetable Curry

I made another Woman's Day recipe, this time a no-hurry vegetable curry. (Basically I'm making every single crock pot recipe I can find that sounds good. I'm in trouble because I just found A Year of Slow Cooking and have a window with about 15 tabs open with recipes to try.)

For the curry I couldn't find butternut squash (I looked at two stores so it must not be in season), but otherwise I pretty much followed the recipe. EXCEPT I think I let it cook longer than it needed. That made it a little thicker than I think curry is probably supposed to be, and I probably should have used more curry paste. It had a very mild flavor. It was pleasant, and we ate it happily, especially thinking it's pretty healthy for us -- lots of veggies and some light coconut milk and spice basically. We ate it with basmati rice.

I'm not sure that I'll make it again. It was OK and relatively easy, but it wasn't great. I think I need to start using my slow cooker liners though and see if that can make clean up a little easier. The sweet potato soup I made overflowed a bit into the base of the pot -- I was able to clean it up OK, but the liner would have prevented that/the overflow would have just gone on the counter, which is much easier to clean.

Not sure what I will make next, but maybe I'll start thinking about taking pictures. I just hate to use my big camera on anything other than Jane photos, and I still can't get my small one to connect to my computer.

Read: G Company's War

G Company's War: Two Personal Accounts of the Campaigns in Europe, 1944-1945 by Bruce E. Egger & Lee MacMillan Otts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book because my husband bought it for me for Christmas. It was on my Amazon wish list, and I put it there because my grandpa is mentioned in the book.

Gpa Ray was part of the G Company whose WWII work is described in this book. He was wounded in action and lost his right arm. When I was a kid I'd always thought that he'd lost his arm during battle and it was still there on the battlefield -- like if someone had just gone to get it he could have had it reattached. That was just a weird thing I made up in my head and definitely not anything anyone told me. The book explained that he was wounded by shrapnel and his arm was amputated at the hospital later.

So I'm glad to have learned more about my grandpa's experience, although he's really only mentioned briefly in the book everything is positive. I read the entire thing because it was interesting and I like first person, real life narrative. I wouldn't say it's a particularly well written book, but the subject matter is deeply engaging, even for someone who didn't understand half of the military terminology and abbreviations (which weren't always explained).

Also: reading this while taking care of a new baby put things in perspective. If I'm tired I can remind myself that I'm not sleeping on freezing ground and walking miles and miles -- or having to be sick while on the back of a truck that won't stop for bathroom breaks. And my dramatic-to-me decision about working is really nothing in comparison to what these infantrymen went through.

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White & Pink Granny Square for Baby G

This is a granny square baby blanket that I made for Baby G. I used the Christmas blanket granny square that my Gran made for me as a pattern, although I added a few additional rows because I used sport weight yarn and Gran's Christmas one seems to be worsted weight. I'm really happy with the way it turns out. Hope Baby G enjoys!

Jane sleeps in front of Baby G's blankie