books and pie

I am lucky to take part in a small book group with a few friends. Over the years I've participated in quite a few book clubs, and they all have their own particular flavor, some more successful than others. Because I know many of you do the same, I thought I'd share a few things we've been doing with our book club in the hope that you will share things that are working particularly well in yours.

1. We read one book each month. (Sometimes we combine July and August if everyone's going to be off on vacation, or December and January to avoid the holiday rush). Every six months or so we pick the next few books we're going to read. We have one rule: You have to have read the book before you can recommend it. And we try and pick books that are easy to get a hold of (via Amazon, the library, local bookstore, etc.).

2. We meet the same day each month, and at the same house. (For example: we always meet the first Tuesday of each month, and we meet at my house.) We used to rotate around to everyone's houses but meeting at one house seems to be working better for us, it may be simply because we always know where we are meeting!

3. We discuss the book. We used to just sit around and talk, but we've been trying to make a concerted effort to actually discuss the book. We ask one person each month to take a few minutes to write up some questions (you can usually find some already written online somewhere) and we write them up on little 3x5 cards. When you arrive, you pick a card or two and when it seems appropriate, you pipe up with your question and everyone weighs in. Book club is about socializing as well, so we definitely get off on tangents, but the cards help us to guide the conversation back to the book from time to time.

4. We keep it all pretty low-key. I've been to book clubs where there was a full buffet offered, and lovely as it was, it sets the bar so high that people are nervous about hosting or bringing refreshments. We just do dessert. Sometimes we can use the book we've read as inspiration (we recently read The Madonnas of Leningrad and my friend brought a delicious honey cake she learned to make while she was in Russia). Other times we've just had berries and ice cream. Everyone takes a turn bringing the dessert.

This month was my turn. Since we had read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, I made my first every sweet potato pie. I looked over a few recipes but settled on one from Everyday Food. And it was delicious! Sweet potato pie is similar to pumpkin pie, but with a slightly different flavor and consistency. This recipe has a mixture of pecans and brown sugar that you spread on top, which makes it especially good. I might have to make another one for Thanksgiving instead of pumpkin pie this year. Top with a big dollop of whipped cream, and you'll see what I mean.

If you'd like to share what's working in your book club, I would love to hear it. The books shown above are ones I've read and enjoyed in various reading groups. If you have recommendations, I'd love to hear them..

baseball party

I'm a fan of simple, thoughtful birthday parties, especially ones that pay attention to detail. A great kids party doesn't need to be elaborate, or cost a ton of money, or require renting out the local bounce house. I think this baseball party, thrown by my good friend Emily for her son Thomas, proves just that.

The invitations were cardstock circles printed with the party details and then "stitched" with wax twine to form a baseball. A second card shows a map to the baseball diamond where the party was held.

The kids lined up in the infield for pre-party warm ups, coached by Thomas' dad. Emily had put together a CD with baseball songs including The Star Bangled Banner, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and We Are the Champions. They stretched, did some jumping jacks and took a few laps around the field. My favorite part was when all the kids took turns batting and the dads caught balls and tagged the runners as they ran around the bases. Games included a water balloon toss and a relay race around the baseball diamond.

The place settings were tan cardstock cut in the shape of home plate, and each child got their own box of Cracker Jacks. Dinner included submarine style sandwiches (on Emily's homemade french bread), watermelon and grapes, fresh veggies, and chips and salsa.

Cupcakes were made with white frosting and red icing stitches and Emily made little pennant cupcake toppers. (You can find some great vintage pennants online, like these.)

Favors were cellophane bags filled with baseball cards and old fashioned candies like Tootsie Rolls and Necco wafers. My children had never seen baseball cards before and spent the next week trading players back and forth trying to get more "red guys" (they know we root for the Angels!)

Happy Birthday Thomas! And well done Emily!

this week's library book

We just returned from our first Back to School night, so this week's library book seems especially appropriate for this time of year. Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry Allard and James Marshall. (And I just realized that Mr. Marshall is also the creator of another favorite series of mine, George and Martha.)

Miss Nelson is a sweet soft spoken teacher who has lost control of her classroom. The children don't obey any of the rules, they shout in class and won't sit in their seats, so Miss Nelson does not come back to school the next day.

"Great!" say the children. "Now we can really be terrible!" They wad up their spit balls and start making paper airplanes. But then their new substitute teacher arrives.

Miss Viola Swamp is a different kind of teacher, mean and impatient. She barks orders at the children. "Where is Miss Nelson?" they ask. "Never mind that," yells Miss Swamp. "Open those arithmetic books!"

After a few days of Miss Swamp's harsh tutelage, the children are desperate for Miss Nelson. They try to find out what has happened to their sweet teacher. And a few days later, she returns. Happy to have their teacher back, the children are now perfectly behaved. Only Miss Nelson knows the real identity of Miss Viola Swamp, but smart kids who read this book sometimes figure it out as well.

I read in this interview that the character of Miss Viola Swamp is based on a teacher that illustrator James Marshall had as a child. Mr. Marshall recalls... "When Harry (the author) and I were doing Miss Nelson is Missing, we devised the scenario so that a wicked substitute arrives on the scene. And Harry said, “I want you to draw the most awful teacher you ever had.” Well, it took me five seconds to get Viola Swamp down. She’s the spitting image of my second grade teacher, who is still alive in San Antonio, Texas. In April I saw her in the supermarket in San Antonio. I was pushing a cart and around the corner came Viola Swamp! And I felt my knees weaken. There she is! She has seen the book and she finds it very amusing, so I don’t feel too terrible." So teachers, watch out!

nesting

I'm over at Kirei Nest today, answering a few questions about wedding gifts, dishware and house guests. The photo above is from Martha's house in Maine and is the reason I collect only white dishes. She calls it "The Great Wall of China". (And it's even more impressive in person!)

sugar cookies

I'm often asked for the recipe I use for sugar cookies, and have never felt comfortable sharing it because it's not a recipe I created myself. I learned it from my old roommate Kristin, who learned it from our friend Angie who learned it from her mom. Well luckily Angie recently shared the recipe over on her new blog. I've tried several sugar cookie recipes and this one is hands down my favorite. Once the dough is chilled it rolls out beautifully and the cookies will keep their shape with a nice defined edge.

I've made these often enough that I have a little routine: 2 days before the party you make the dough in the evening and let it chill overnight (I always double the recipe). The next day you roll them out and bake them, (they only cook for about 8 minutes, and you pull them out when they are just the tiniest bit golden brown) then let them cool. Frost them that evening (the night before the party) and let them sit overnight so the frosting can harden. The day of the party you can package them as favors, or serve them as part of your buffet. But make plenty, people tend to eat more than their share!

school bag

C started kindergarten last week, and his teacher informed all the parents on the first day of school that she prefers bags to backpacks, especially for kindergarteners who are still learning the art of zippers. (And they have these big manila folders the kids bring home which don't fit very well in a backpack.) Clearly a bag needed to be made.

Forgive the wrinkles, this bag is clearly already in use. I used my favorite bag pattern from Lotta's book Simple Sewing, with gray canvas on the bottom and some Heather Ross fabric on top (a heavier home dec line called Rabbits and Race Cars). C picked the fabric out himself, what five year old wouldn't want a bag with race cars on it? I love the little tow trucks and ambulances as well. (Thank you Heather for making a race car print that doesn't look like a Nascar ad, I love you for it.)

I added the letter C using the applique technique Heather teaches in Weekend Sewing, where you sew the letter to lightweight fusible interfacing and then turn it inside out. (Visit the Purl Bee for a better explanation of how this works, they used it on their Thanksgiving table runner last year.) C is not the easiest letter to turn, but I think this technique is much easier than traditional applique, though I still need a little practice.

I love seeing my son as he runs off to class, his school bag on one arm and his lunchbox in the other. So far kindergarten is a big hit. I was a little nervous sending him off to school without any friends (he didn't know anyone in his class). C is a friendly boy, but he can be a little shy around new faces. But he's doing just fine. "I made a new friend at school today Mom," he reports back to me at the end of the day. "That's great buddy.. how did you do it?" "Well I just did what you said Mom... I said Hi! My name is C. What's your name? And it worked!" I love this kid.

outdoor movies

Drive-in movies are one of my favorite things, but they are almost extinct. Seems like all the ones near me have been transformed into weekend flea markets, which makes me a little sad. There's something magical about watching a movie outside, so this summer we've been showing a few movies right in our backyard.

My husband made the screen out of an old queen sized flat sheet, stretched across some spare wood he had in the garage. The support legs in back fold in, so we can pack it flat and leave it in the garage when it's not in use. Luckily my brother happens to have a pretty good projector, which hooks right up to the computer so we can play directly from a DVD. You'll need some speakers too, we used two sets and it was nice and loud. And it's always nice to let your neighbors know in advance what you're up to. We try and start our movies right at dusk, so they are over by 10 PM. We bring all our blankets out to the lawn and spread them out, luckily it doesn't get too chilly here in California.

All my brothers and sisters came to town the first week in August and one night we gathered at my house and watched a movie outside. The kids were bundled with blankets, arm in arm with their cousins (there are 12 in all). Most of the adults gathered inside the house and talked and played cards. Bowls of popcorn were passed around. A few of the littlest children fell asleep under the stars. All around, a lovely night.

secrets to a happy marriage

Joanna, over at Cup of Jo is off on her honeymoon. While she is away she is posting answers to the question "What's the secret to a happy marriage?" I've loved reading everyone's little ways of staying close. Check out my answer today.

This photo is from a little trip John and I took to Philadelphia 2 years ago, our first trip without the kids. A Man Full of Trouble was a popular tavern during the Revolutionary era. A parrot, a monkey, and a cat? Well that does sound like trouble.

and so it begins

Forgive my absence here, we've had a busy couple of weeks. We took a road trip with the kids to celebrate the last week of summer and got back just in time for one last perfect day at the beach before school started on Tuesday. We've barely had time to unpack our bags.

It has been a week of many firsts. Bee's first day of preschool, C's first day of kindergarten, Bee's first dance class (which she's taking with her cousin, and yes, those are tap shoes! Can you think of anything more exciting than a bunch of three year old's tapping their hearts out?)

And C is starting soccer. He picked up his uniform last night and has his first game this Saturday, it should be entertaining, especially because he has no idea how to actually play soccer.

And one more first... my friends Angie and Kristin of Blonde Designs have started their own blog. We were all art directors at Martha Stewart at the same time, Angie on Living, Kristin on Weddings, myself on the Kids magazine. But we actually met back in college when we went to study abroad in London. These girls are super talented, and I've already been inspired by their blog, as you can see from the photos above. Welcome friends!

the cabin

My father's family gathers together once every two years for a reunion at our family cabin in Northern California. I'm not sure how long the tradition has been going.. 30 years? 40 years? When I was a little girl the reunion at the cabin was the highlight of my summer. I got to see my grandmother and grandfather, who I adored and spend time with my cousins, who lived far away.

We'd camp outside the cabin in tents because the cabin couldn't fit everyone. We'd run down the hill to explore the creek and skip rocks. We'd walk up to the clearing to watch stars at night. We'd head into town to visit the pool and grab an ice cream. We'd play cards until it was late at night and grandma's toffee nut bars were gone. Oh, I adore this sweet little cabin.

My great grandfather, who was nicknamed "Heavy", ran a grocery store near Sacramento back in the 1930's. During the Great Depression, many customers couldn't pay for their groceries because they were out of work. Heavy understood that people needed to eat. So he rented some forest land and put the men to work building a little cabin. He would pay them wages, some of which they used to pay back their debt to the store.

The cabin is nothing fancy. No TV. No radio. No telephone. No internet. It has one little bathroom that was added onto the back deck and a tiny shower. This summer we camped down the hill from the cabin, and it was Bee's first time sleeping in a tent. One morning she woke up around 6 AM and yelled "This is so much more fun than sleeping in our beds!" Do kids love anything more than camping?

We spent a few hours each day in town at the community pool. It's such a lovely spot to take a swim and stare up at the beautiful trees surrounding you in every direction. It brings back all kinds of memories when I was a little girl playing with my cousins or trying to jump off my dad's shoulders into the water.

The kids loved the creek just as much as I did when I was their age. Rushing water is endlessy entertaining and the creek is gentle, shallow enough that even Bee can cross it without too much trouble. We raced sticks and piled up rocks and tried to see how far we could throw our pebbles.

My grandfather passed away a few years ago, and I miss him, but especially so when I am at the cabin. I see him sitting on the deck under the trees with his flannel shirt and his fisherman's hat. I like to think he would be happy to see us still gathering together as a family, playing the card games he loved, talking and visiting, eating the tomatoes from his garden, and just enjoying the cabin.

Such a gift my great grandfather gave us. Here we are, four generations later, bringing our children to the cabin so they can enjoy it as well.