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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

One Minute Book Review: Gogo Monster



I found this gem while browsing the internet for some lighthearted shoujo manga (hey, don't judge) - but it is anything but. It still looked good, so I asked the library if they'd order it, and they did! Don't you love the library? (Hint: the answer is either, "yes," or, "not yet.")

Anyway, Gogo Monster is an ADULT graphic novel about a Japanese boy who feels monsters in his school. I emphasize adult not because it's heavy on sex or violence, but because the plot doesn't sound that grown-up. And boy, this book is dark. It reminded me of a cross between Donnie Darko and the strangest parts of Spirited Away.



Anyway, Yuki (the boy) has always felt that the monsters were nice, or at least ambivalent. But his behavior grows increasingly erratic as he feels their control of the school slipping to a new crowd of monsters - ones that aren't so nice. You're never really sure if the monsters are real or if Yuki is actually disturbed. Oh, and there's a kid who wears a box over his head all the time, and he's Really Flippin Weird.

So that's Gogo Monster in a nutshell. The art is mesmerizing, and it only took me a few hours to read (the first time - it's confusing enough to warrant multiple readings). If it's your cup of tea, it comes with high recommendation. 

Love,

Katie

P.S. In other graphic novel news (old news, but news nonetheless) - TokyoPop is shutting down U.S. operations. And my new favorite manga is published by them, which means I MAY NEVER FIND OUT HOW IT ENDS! (Ok, it's shoujo, so girl gets boy, obviously...but HOW?) Katie = sad.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Heroes

My big brother is a hero.

He's absent from a lot of the stories I tell about my childhood, because for the first sixteen years of his life, he lived with his mom. But he would visit, and my sister and I would fight over who got to sit next to "Thumper" at dinner. His name is John Jr, but I guess everyone thought that was confusing with John Sr. around, so until fifth grade, that's the only name I knew him by. And yes, that means I just outed his childhood family nickname to everyone on the internet. What are sisters for?

When I started middle school, Thumper moved in with us. We didn't really get close. I was in middle school, remember? I wasn't really bonding with anyone at that age. But he played football, and I went to all his games. Thanks to him, I impress my husband with my knowledge of referee hand signals.

When he graduated from high school, Thumper joined the Navy. He met and married a gorgeous woman, and they have three beautiful children. In the years following his time in the Navy, he worked very hard, often multiple jobs, to provide for his family and become an EMT, then a firefighter. He's also an excellent cook!

Obviously I am proud of John for so many things. But I don't think I've ever felt prouder than tonight when I saw this photo:


I think this is my brother, a firefighter in Joplin, MO...or a long-lost twin. He and his family are safe, and he's working very hard to help everyone who is not - even if he's not the hero in this particular photo. I love him and his family very much, and I'm honored to be a part of it. I pray for his safety, and the safety of his colleagues, friends, and neighbors in Joplin, and I hope you will do the same.

Love, 

Katie

Monday, May 16, 2011

No use crying over spoilt milk

For the last two weeks, two delicious half-gallons of Ozark Mountain Creamery milk were sitting in our fridge, waiting...and waiting...and waiting. I was so worried that they would spoil, and yet I was too busy eating and drinking other things to care. Talk about first-world problems.

Anyway, Jon succeeded in drinking it all. That boy has a talent. (Well, a lot of talents, but milk-drinking is surely among them.) Then this evening, Susie knocked the empty glass milk jug off our kitchen floor, where it hit the tile and shattered into a million gazillion pieces.

And now she's sitting on my stomach, pretending to not remember. Sneaky.

I have a lot of strange habits, but here's a weird one: I distrust food that's been around for too long. I don't like eating the last two pieces of ham in a package. I'll eat everything in the fridge before I eat that apple that's slightly shriveled...until it slimes and I throw it in the compost bucket. Sometimes I make a conscious effort to use the last of something in a recipe. But two days before the sell-by date, I start eying that milk suspiciously. On the sell-by date, I push it off on friends or make yogurt out of it. After the sell-by date, I consider it spoilt.

Now, I know that often things are perfectly fine past their dates. I eat eggs months past their dates (crack 'em into a bowl first, though). It's not the date that bothers me - it's how long the container has been opened, and how much of it is gone.

I think this strange notion of freshness comes from growing up with Dad, who owns and runs a grocery store. One of the great perks to this job is that if the man wants ham for lunch, he brings home a package of ham and eats a ham sandwich. Unfortunately for some of his fridge-mates, he often forgets to check the fridge for the three half-empty packages of ham already in there. Which brings the grand total to four packages of ham. We also had a small family, and (again- grocery store) lots of food items to choose from. So it might take us a month or two to get through the four packages of ham. Which means the last two or three slices are gross. This also kept me (and I guess, everyone else?) from eating those last two or three slices, so it was a self-fulfilling prophecy.

But the real reason I don't drink milk past the sell-by date is that I know there are perfectly good uses for it after it has spoiled. I'm not talking about chunky, color-changing spoilage. I'm talking about milk that's just sour - it might have minor curdles, but the scent doesn't bowl you over. You can use milk in this state for most recipes that call for buttermilk. Pancakes, muffins, some yeast breads, cornbread,* and Jon's favorite, buttermilk biscuits. I've tried a few recipes, but I like this one the best. Don't let its lack of fat put you off - they're delicious, without being too heavy. And Jon can make them in under a half-hour, so they're not too complicated! Enjoy!

Love,

Katie

*Remind me to post about cornbread sometime. It's a long story!

Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits 
Adapted from the "Classic Biscuits" in Crescent Dragonwagon's
(yes, that's her name)  Passionate Vegetarian
1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp cold butter (if you're using unsalted, add a smidge more salt)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
3/4 to 1 cup buttermilk (or sour milk)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sift the dry ingredients together into a large bowl. Cut the butter into pieces and drizzle the oil over the bowl. Blend it all together quickly with a pastry blender until thoroughly mixed and crumbly. Add the 3/4 cup buttermilk and stir until the milk is mixed in, and there aren't major puddles lurking about. Then use your hands to work the dough into a ball. If it's still too crumbly, add more buttermilk, but don't overmix! Give it about 4-5 good squeezes and then pat it out into a rectangle on a floured surface. Cut with a pizza cutter into the size you want (I usually do about 2-3 inches square). Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes.

You can add herbs, honey, raisins, oatmeal - the possibilities are limited only by your imagination. Ms. Dragonwagon has quite a list of variations in her book, so if you haven't checked it out, I recommend it! The library doesn't seem to have it at the moment :( but you can borrow mine or check out the Google Books preview - or request that the library order another copy!




Friday, May 13, 2011

A really, really, really green Christmas...

Video time! I found this today. I thought - I should really wait until Christmas. But I just couldn't take the chance of losing this one to the huge folder of bookmarks, so here goes:

The following clip is from one of my all-time favorite Christmas specials, "The Year Without a Santa Claus."



Apparently, it's a favorite for this family, too:



Thanks, awkwardfamilyphoto.com!

Happy Friday,

Katie

Thursday, May 12, 2011

At least I traded my heels for Chacos...

I know, I know - it's been forever. Almost a whole week! I'm sure you've been desperately checking for updates.

Yup. It's true. Blogging has made me even more self-absorbed than I was before. And that's not easy, folks.

Anyway, I have some good news:

I dance upon the graves of my final exams, and am looking forward to returning to my nice little life. A heck of a lot more of this:

I saw Chef Thomas Keller make cookie magic on the Today Show this morning. 
Legen-dairy (as in, I really hope I have a gallon of milk to go with those).

This:

 I made these magnets last week for someone's birthday. Mod-Podge - huzzah!

 They each have a different Fruit of the Spirit on them. Kindness is a kitty!

 Here's the whole set, and they're mailed away.
I actually remembered someone's birthday! (Thank God for Google Calendar!)

And this:
And a lot, lot less of this:

Well, that's the plan anyway. I've had a good start to it today, anyway. Laundry, dishes, and even vacuuming.
Ok, so running the roomba is a loose definition of "vacuuming." 
At least if I describe it in a way that makes it sound like I worked or something.

Yes, at heart, I'm a liberated 1950s housewife. And a feminist. That's right, I can be both. Shannon Hayes says so. (But after my brush with appendicitis this winter, let me say that her ideas about health insurance are bunk.)

So here's hoping your beautiful May day is just as fulfilling, whether that's because you're working hard or hardly working.

Love,
Katie

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Excuse me, Miss - Your children's librarian is showing...

I have to tell people about things I love. And I love this book:





You caught me. It's children's literature. But WAIT! I promise, you will love Pete too, when you get to know him. After all, I stayed up until midnight last night with about ten friends - coloring. With crayons. Wonders never cease.

So embrace your inner child and check out this book. It's nominated for a Missouri Building Block Award this year, and it's my pick for the winner. If you have kids, or work with kids, or you think you will ever talk to a kid sometime in your life, Pete the Cat is a good friend to have - if your kid hasn't met him, they will love you for the introduction.

Ok, I'm overselling.


I could read you the story of Pete the Cat and his brand-new white shoes...but I'd rather let these two do it. They're cuter than me. (And that's saying something!)


And in case you didn't catch it at the end: "The moral of the story is: No matter what you step in, keep walking along and singing your song. Because it's all good."

Happy Thursday!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

"First we eat; then we do everything else." - M.F.K. Fisher

I had a huge to-do list for today, and even managed to accomplish some of my grandiose ambitions. At the urging of my facebook friends, however, I took a small detour from my errands to meet Renee downtown for lunch. And I am really glad I did.

*All of the photos below are borrowed from the Aviary's facebook page...I really hope they don't mind, especially because I'm saying nice things!


The Aviary Cafe and Creperie opened only one week and one day ago (I feel like a restaurant hipster!). I'm a fan of Downtown Springfield on Facebook, and there has been a bit of a buzz about the opening. I watched a lot of Kitchen Nightmares while I was sick a month ago, so I was prepared for the hiccups of a new restaurant. But in every aspect, the Aviary was shockingly delightful.

 View from the front door.

First, the dining room is simply gorgeous. The bird theme is natural and not forced, and the colors are beautiful. (I'm pretty sure that gray color is the same one I picked for my bedroom!) There's also a lovely ceiling installation with globes from our own Springfield Hot Glass studio. The overall quality of the dining setting, from the cute wine bottles (with stoppers!) they serve water in, to the heavy silverware in a precisely-folded cloth napkin, was impressive.

 See! The ceiling! Pretty! Pretty!

They have a panini menu for lunch, and Renee ordered a ham and cheese panini. I ordered a crepe from the "second courses" section of the regular menu - the Venitian Garden, with spinach, asparagus, and ricotta, topped with sour cream. Both came with side salads, with perfectly herbed croutons, apples, small pieces of goat cheese, and a balsamic vinaigrette. The food was...let's just say very tasty. Very, very tasty. So tasty that Renee and I really couldn't stop talking about how tasty it was. Ok, so occasionally we talked about other things. Like how beautiful the decor is. And how I'm going to blog about it. And how I need to print little business cards to drop at places I love, telling them to check my blog, because I'm going to write about them. (Yeah, I'm not self-absorbed at all.)

This looks a little like my lunch, but with more cheese. Mmmmm...


The service was friendly and professional. Our server easily persuaded us to try a dessert crepe - the Sugar and Spice, which was a very good decision. The spiced sugar had caramelized to a rounded, sweet, sticky pile of heaven. Also, the prices are reasonable - my crepe, side salad, and half of the dessert came to under $10.

This is the Peach Melba, which I will have to try next time!

So thank you, Aviary, for a delicious and inspiring lunch. I hope to have many of these with you in the future. And thank you, Facebook friends, for persuading me to put aside some of my errands for a much-needed respite.