If I could write a cookbook...

this is the one I'd write...


















I first happened upon this cookbook, Apples for Jam, by Tessa Kiros, when I was browsing at a rather earthy store.  And every time we went back, Luke would look at the shoes and the outdoor gear, while I would wander over and find myself flipping through the pages of the same old book, mesmerized.  So finally, a couple of years ago now, I bought it.

Today as I sat planning my menu, I flipped through the pages once again, cover to cover, sipping my iced coffee, with that same inspired and warm feeling.  She's a mom of two and lives in Europe.  Her cookbook is filled with pictures of life, her children, her childhood, her home, and of course of the delicious dishes she prepares.  Food for her resonates memories and evokes nostalgia of days gone by.  She tells simple little stories throughout, which makes me feel like I'm reading a book.  And I never get tired of it.

And today as I browsed, I noticed that every single recipe I have tried out of the book has a check-plus on top, which for me means, "This one's a keeper; make it again!"

So if you need a new cook book, I recommend this one; I really don't think you'll ever toss it.

Fairy Tales have their place

Alright, so I don't do this much, mostly because I figure I'm the last one to know about these great books we read, and I'm usually not the one who discovered them, so I feel I oughtn't "claim" them. But I thought I'd share two new books I just recently discovered, that my sweet little girls and I have been enjoying...(and, may I add, Darcie my mother-in-law suggested this...she's the book guru around here, but amazingly enough she hadn't even heard of these books!)

Both books are by Elizabeth Orton Jones.  The first book, Big Susan, is about a little girl's doll house whose inhabitants come alive just once a year, on Christmas Eve. The story is so sweet and the illustrations are just delightful! This book is appropriate for children that are still thriving on picture books, although Amaleah loved listening to the story as well. Twig is a chapter book, with wonderful illustrations once or twice a chapter, about a little girl who imagines herself being turned into a person little enough to live inside an empty tomato can. Another delightful little story which involves an elf, a queen fairy and a master magician (although it is very clear in the end that it's not "real" magic, just imagination). Nothing dark or witch-crafty, of course.  

These books are available on amazon.com, and are highly recommended by my girls and I for some snuggly, winter reading. There's room for imaginative, un"real" stories in our life, right?  (Julia for sure doesn't need a book to tell her that!)