relish. lucy knisley. (210)

i firrst heard of relish on flavorpill.  i was actually going to buy it, a graphic novel about food, of course i would love it.  however, it sat on my amazon wish list for a while, actually where it still is. i am not sure what prompted me to finally check it out, i think it was a post about foodie books.

anyway, so relish is actually not a graphic novel but a graphic memoir.  and its an adorable little book that features stories from lucy knisley's life and recipes to go along with it.  and of course the illustrations are adorable as well.

knisley came from a family of foodies, her mother was a caterer and was all about farm fresh before farm fresh became a thing, and her father just liked good food.  also her godfather was a food critic and her uncle joined a food store in nyc.  all her life knisley was surrounded by good food.  

the graphic memoir is a handful of stories and as i mentioned recipes that go along with the story.  well except for one, knisley shared how in venice she had these delicious croissants that were filled with apricot jam.  she tried her best to recreate them but couldn't do it.  instead of having a croissant recipe there was one for sangria!  

the memoir is short so i won't go into too much detail on the stories.  though i will add that i really enjoyed the story about her coming of age in mexico and seeing all the fun things she ate in japan!  

and though i don't cook, i was excited about the recipes.  maybe i will make something one day, the lamb sounded delish,  maybe i can get my sister to make it.  i will add that i did learn that you shouldn't wash your mushrooms!  you should brush them clean or if you do, make sure to let them dry before they are sauteed.  i love mushrooms so will start doing that.

all in all a delightful little book, i mean it ended with a bradbury quote from dandelion wine!!

i also decided to include some illustrations, since it is a graphic memoir.

this will be my to-eat list when i am in chicago (i really need to plan a trip there, maybe next year?)

a recipe for carbonara, i should really try to make it!

and i just loved this little quote:

so if you love food, you should check this out.  and if you make anything from it, invite me over!

blubber. judy blume. (203)

june 17th is blumesday!  i wrote about it last year, it's a play on bloomsday which honors james joyce's ulysses.  blumesday is set on the birthday of judy blume.  i decided to celebrate it this year, with a quick rereading of blubber.

i remember reading blubber as a kid, but other than remembering it was about a fat kid and that i learned that the fat of a whale is called blubber from it, i didn't recall much else.

rereading it as an adult, i am surprised that it is not required reading for schools especially with the recent fight against bullying.  blubber is told from the perspective of a fifth-grader, jill.  jill is part of the "in crowd" though kids normally don't get that label until jr. high.  she is follows, what thanks to mean girls we know term as the queen bee, wendy and bullies a fat girl named linda.  linda had the misfortune to give a report on whales, in which she had to explain what blubber is. the kids, being cruel like they truly can be, start calling her blubber.  wendy is a real regina george, i mean the bullying shocked me.  not only did they force linda to kiss a boy on the cheek, but they also made her pull up her skirt and show her underwear!  in today's world, such actions would have resulted in a suspension and a sexual harassment lawsuit.  jill is there being a bully, though linda has never done anything mean to her.  jill did demonstrate some regret when she discussed with her mom how to deal with kids making fun of you.  her mom tells her to laugh it off, but also warns her that one day she could be the one that is teased.

then one day, the bullying goes too far.  the students lock linda in a closet.  (before i go on i must share that i was surprised how their lunch hour was ran.  rather then have lunch in cafeteria, the kids were left in the classrooms with an adult patrolling the hallways and sneaking her head in.  did schools really run like this?  this is outrageous!  again if this happened today, a lawsuit would definitely occur due to lack of supervision). they decided to put linda on trial for telling on jill and tracy, however, jill realized she was sick of wendy bossing her around, she stood up to the queen bee.  though jill was winning in the self-esteem department, she totally lost socially.

the next day, wendy and lisa become bff and begin to bully jill.  they call her baby, and pull the same things they did on linda (minus the skirt lifting and kissing.)  jill then pulled a cady, and makes wendy's number two, carolina jealous of wendy and linda's new found friendship.  this little tiff then results in all of the girls making new best friends and they all move on.  it appears as though nothing is truly resolved, but it's just like the mean girls' ending, each girl friends a new group of friends and life goes on, which is exactly how it is in life.  

having been a fifth-grader once in my life and a female and having queen bee tendencies, i can say that this is how life is in elementary school.  i mean i was never a bully, though i did get my 6th grade class to stop talking to my best friend because she once didn't invite me over to play at her house. (there are more details that somewhat justify my actions).  but we females, unfortunately, hate each other guts one day and then are bffs the next.  i would like to say at some point women grow out of it, but i have seen thirty/fortysomethings fight like the girls in this story.  sad, i know.

as i mentioned before it is a great book for kids to read.  blume shared at the end of this edition, how the story was based on an incident that occurred in her daughter's class.  she wrote it in hopes that kids will not keep their bullying a secret.  this is a book every kid should read, though i warn there is foul language in it.  jill calls her teacher a bitch (something i thought was mature for a fifth grader).  jill also used another cuss word though she explained that her parents let her cuss.  

i also have to give kudos to blume for having great maudie, such a health food nut.  i noticed blume being up on the health food treat in the fudge books, and her being from portland this all makes sense, but really these books are like thirtysomeodd years old.  but yay great maudie for being into wheat mush and juices!

back to the book, if you read it as a kid, give it a reread.  and if you have kids and need a talking point for bullying, use this book!

cloudy with a chance of meatballs. judi barrett. illustrated by ron barrett. (100)

i am quite disappointed with myself for not realizing what an important day today is but just discovered thanks to this flavorpill article about
celebrities' favorite children books, that today is international children's book day. and luckily for me i recently checked out one of my favorite children's book, "cloud with a chance of meatballs" for brother bear so can post about it!

if i had to guess, i first read "cloudy with a chance of meatball" in the 4th grade. i do remember writing a story based on the book. it was called "cloudy with a chance of pancakes" (which i just realized with my re-reading was not that creative since the grandpa's story was based on "flying" pancakes) and featured the simpsons as the family (wow! talk about copyright infringement!)

my love for this story just proves one thing, i have always and will always be a fat kid. as a kid, i always wished that i lived in the land of the chewandswallow and that food just fell from the sky for me to eat! talk about paradise! though now i would be very precise about what i would want to fall from the sky.

if you have never read the story, it's kind of a story within a story. grandpa tells
his grandchildren a story about a mythical land called chewandswallow where food falls from the sky. whole meals fall from the sky for breakfast, lunch and dinner. the city also has a sanitation department that was very green. they gathered the extra food and feed the animals and the rest was put in the soil to make it richer for gardens. however, the weather changes on them and the food becomes disgusting so they had to sail to a new land. and in this new land, they have to adjust to snow and rain falling from the sky and getting food at the grocery store!

cute story, huh?

ron barrett also did an excellent job with the illustrations. look how great they are:

the hot dog is one of my favorites!

since we all know i loved to eat, this will alway be one of my favorite books!

too many tamales. gary soto. (82)

my uncle boon used to share a joke that went like this:

q: why do mexicans have tamales on christmas?

a: so they could have something to unwrap!

no exactly pc but hilarious nonetheless and in that case the epitome of my uncle boon.

it's only been recently that i have equated christmas time with tamale time! i never realized this as a kid. though i didn't like tamales as a kid so that could be the reason for my ignorance. however now i am a tamale fanatic and look forward to christmas because it means an abundance of tamales, it means tamales for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! and seriously they are little bundles of joy.

since it is christmas time and i love tamales, i decided to check out "too many tamales". i hadn't read the book before but i think i saw it on reading rainbow.

"too many tamales" is the story of a girl maria who loses her mom's diamond ring in the mass while tamale making. she discovered the lost after the tamales were made so she and her cousins than eat the tamales trying to find it. does maria find the ring? if you want to know than you should check this book out!

so the story premise is cute but the storyline is kinda weak. first of all, the title, its blasphemous! there is no such thing as too many tamales. second, there is no way that any family would not notice that the kids were eating all of the tamales. if this happened in my house, i would have been called out for being a porker and scolded for being greedy. third, the kids ate like 6 tamales a piece and complained that it was too much. again, maybe i had a big appetite but 6 tamales would be nothing for the kid version of me. it's definitely nothing for the adult version of me.

this aside, it is a great story and especially great because it captures an important christmas tradition, tamale making. and well of course, tamale eating!

ps its things like this that make me grateful i grew up in delano.