A Good Deed

Part Four:

Will nudged one of the fairies in front of him. "Hold my place, I need to go and talk with your friend for a minute!"

"Hi, my name is Will. I was standing behind you and your friends in line. Aren't you going inside Fairyland with your friends?"

"No, I'm waiting for them out here. Besides I can't buy anything today even with the discount."

"Look I am almost done with my shopping today and I have a few extra gold coins. How about you take two of them? That still leaves me with four. Besides I can always go back for more coins when I need them at the Sock Bank.* I have collected several mismatched socks that need mates so I am ready to turn them in."

"Really.. you'd give me your coins!!! Gosh, what can I say...really...thanks!"

Will pressed the coins into her hand. "We'd better hurry-look... the line is moving and it's almost 11:00!"

Inside the store Will could feel excitement in the air as many customers tried on different jeweled pieces. The fairy he had helped and her friends seemed so excited to try on several jewelry items. The glitter and shine of each of the gemstone pieces made decisions even harder.

Will looked around the store, mesmerized by the beauty of all the gemstone jewels. He wondered what his mother would like when all of sudden he spied it, there nestled in a black velvet case was a Sparkle blue toned gemstone necklace. Now this is perfect for my mom he thought to himself.

After making his purchase he stepped out into the Mall corridor and headed toward one of his favorite stores The Funky Monkey Shop. He remembered how much Holokai loved this store. Will was sure he could find something fun for him. Maybe he could even get some ideas for Holokai when he entertains the crowds at the SockMart on Saturdays. Being his manager, Will is always on the lookout for stuff.

"Would you like to try a sample of our Strawberry-Banana Smoothie? We are selling all the ingredients to make your own. It's over there in the refrigerated case," said one of the workers in the store.

Will even though full from his last treat could not turn down such a yummy sample. He decided he'd have to buy a few bags to bring home and keep in his freezer to make his own smoothies.

*Sock Bank-a place where you can bring your mismatched socks. The tellers try to find a match for your socks. If they do find a missing mate you leave the sock and get a gold coin as a payment.

All Rights Reserved Ready 2010

Lucky for us Will got the recipe!

______________________________________________________________________________________

Banana-Strawberry Smoothie

Ingredients:

2 bananas that have been peeled and frozen in a bag

1 cup of sliced frozen strawberries

8 0z milk or 1 small container 4 oz. of vanilla yogurt

Directions:

Use blender to mix ingredients

Note: Using frozen fruit instead of ice makes for a thicker consistency

Sparkle Special

Part Three: An Unexpected Turn of Events

Just as Will was deciding if he should splurge on a another helping of Fairy Cloud, his thoughts were interrupted with a loud voice over the Mall loudspeaker.
"Do you know someone in your life who would love a Sparkle gemstone? Don't miss out on our Saturday special. Only from 11:00 to 12:00 today can you purchase a Sparkle gemstone for just 50% off regular price. This is a chance of lifetime and found only at Fairyland Shop right here at the Mall and not at any of our other locations. Don't miss out on this great special!"
Well it was at the moment the Mall crowd went wild and flew toward the Fairyland Shop. It did not take long for a line to form with only minutes to spare before 11:00. Will hurried knowing the value of these gemstones were top quality. He knew fairies loved the glitter and shine of these gems and were often seen wearing them. Indeed, this was a bargain and Will could think of many who were on his shopping list that would love such a gift.
He was lucky to squeeze in line right between two groups of fairies who were excitedly pointing to the window display of Sparkle gems. The glitter and shine of the pieces did make them look priceless! "Gosh, 50% off is such a deal." Will exclaimed out loud.
He fingered the gold coins left in his pocket. He was quite sure he had enough to purchase a few gemstones.
Just as the crowd was inching their way toward the doorway Will noticed a very dejected looking fairy slip out of line and move close to the wall opposite the store entrance. Will caught snatches of the fairies conversations in front of him...something about their friend not having enough coins to purchase any Sparkle gemstones even with a 50% off discount. Will looked at the window display of all gemstone jewelry thinking what a rare opportunity this was to buy with such a discount. Will glanced over at the fairy and made a quick decision.
To Be Continued

All Rights Reserved Ready 2010

A Wintery-Like Thanksgiving

The promise of a White Thanksgiving is now becoming a reality as snow blankets the metro area.

Judging from the packed grocery store parking lots food must be on a lot of people's minds. The stress of holiday cooking brought to my mind a funny poem I used in the classroom this time of the year.

The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven Jack Prelutsky The turkey shot out of the oven and rocketed into the air, it knocked every plate off the table and partly demolished a chair. It ricocheted into a corner and burst with deafening boom, then splattered all over the kitchen, completely obscuring the room. It stuck to the walls and the windows, it totally coated the floor, there was turkey attached to the ceiling, where there'd never been turkey before. It blanketed every appliance, it smeared every saucer and bowl, there wasn't a way I could stop it, that turkey was out of control. I scraped and I scrubbed with displeasure, and thought with chagrin as I mopped, that I'd never again stuff a turkey with popcorn that hadn't been popped. This poem brought recollection of the time when anarchy prevailed in our home one Thanksgiving when I was a child. My mother wanting to be super organized and on top of things as she prepared the big Thanksgiving dinner for eight children had what she thought was a great idea. After the turkey was cooked in mid-afternoon without our knowing, she instructed my father to debone the whole bird. As we all sat down for our big feast waiting expectantly for the Main Attraction, my mother proudly placed a huge platter of meat on the table. You should have seen the looks of disappointment! And then the cries of dissent arose. One could hear, "Where's the turkey? I want turkey! Where did the turkey go? No explanation from my mother would erase the disappointment of eight children who expected a whole cooked turkey on the platter on the table. The dinner was just not the same. Well, you can be sure my mother never repeated what she thought was a great idea on Thanksgiving again. And by the way, a learning lesson for me. Lastly, upcoming blogs: Creative ways to use turkey leftovers and some vegetarian main dishes. I received my first new issue of Cooking Light magazine. Hope you all have a safe holiday and enjoy time spent with family and friends.

Some Lucky Finds

Note: Please refer to blog: Keeping Up written on November 2. This blog updated you on previous Rocky Socky adventures with his friends Will and Holokai. In Part One we left off with Will wanting to get a jump start on his holiday shopping with plans to return to Sockland. He was busy cutting out coupons from the Sockland Gazette and making a wish list of items for his friends when he suddenly spied...

Part Two: The Perfect Gift

Will talking to himself as he scans the newspaper. "Oh my gosh-how perfect is this! I know Rocky Socky will really like these. And I can even use this coupon: buy two and get the third one free. He is so into this genealogy stuff."

Since there was no school with a holiday coming, Will wasted no time getting to the bus stop hoping he could catch the 10:00 run to the Sockland Mall. He ran furiously down the street just as Sockland Express was pulling to the curb. "Hi, Rocky Socky. Wow look how crowded your bus is already. Looks like lots of others want to do some early holiday shopping just like me."

"Hey, Will how are you? I have missed seeing you the past few weeks. Holokai keeps asking when are you coming over."

"Tell Holokai to keep on thinking up some new tricks to improve his act. We are really going to be busy at the SockMart all through December. In fact that is one reason I am going to Sockland Mall. I need to get my shopping done early. Being Holokai's manager keeps me busier that I thought."

Will settled into his seat thinking about his list. It seemed like time just flew when he heard Rocky Socky yell,"Sockland Mall! Sockland Mall!"

As he entered Sockland, Will found himself changing from his usual size to a very small size. Even after all these trips to Sockland he still felt funny with his new smaller body size. Will made a beeline for the bookstore. He spent time searching the shelves for books. Will found ones on the history of red-heeled monkeys, how to make red heel monkeys, craft ideas on what to do with single socks, sock monkey stories and many more. Will selected three he knew Rocky Socky would just love. Will was quite interested himself in learning more about the Red Heel Monkey Shelter.

As Will moved out to the inner Mall he couldn't resist stopping for a treat at the kiosk. Fairy Cloud, one of his favorites, is something he can never resist.

All Rights Reserved Ready 2010

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Readers,

I am happy to report Will was lucky to get us the recipe.

Fairy Cloud

(light-airy-melts in your mouth)

Almond Macaroon Meringue

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 8 crushed macaroon cookies (use food processor)
• 1-cup milk
• 3 large eggs (separated)
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ package (envelope) of Knox unflavored gelatin (about ½ TB.)
• 2 TB. milk
• 1 cup of heavy cream whipped
• 2 TB. Kahlua
• ½ tsp. almond extract

Directions:

• Scald 1 cup of milk in saucepan-cool slightly (off burner)
• In a bowl beat egg yolks and sugar
• Pour 1 TB. scalding milk into egg yolks then whisk egg mixture and milk together in saucepan
• Cook on stove till mixture coats back of wooden spoon
• Soften gelatin in 2 TB. of milk and add to custard mixture in saucepan
• Cook on low heat 1-2 minutes (do not let mixture boil)
• Pour custard mixture in bowl, add 2 TB. Kahlua, and ½ tsp. almond extract
• Cover with wax paper for about 30 minutes to cool
• Beat egg whites in a separate bowl
• Beat whip cream in separate bowl
• Gently fold egg whites and whip cream mixture together
• Add custard to whip cream/egg white mixture
• Layer in the following manner:
• In each parfait glass (I used martini glasses) sprinkle 1 TB-2Tb cookie mixture in bottom of glass, add some custard mixture, more crushed cookies and rest of custard mixture, on top sprinkle crushed almonds
• Refrigerate till serving

Jumpstart

"To give without any reward,

or any notice,

has a special quality of its own."

Anne Murrow Lindbergh

Needing a jump start on holiday gift giving ideas? Make your own Sand Art Brownies in a jar to give a friend, co-worker, neighbor or family member who would enjoy receiving a holiday treat.

The following idea is easy enough for even the non-baker. You will need a quart wide mouth jar, ribbon, tag and the following ingredients. And then just leave the baking to your lucky recipient.

Sand Art Brownies

Adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• ½ cup plus 2 TB. flour
• ¾ tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• ½ cup white sugar
• ½ cup flour
• ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
• ½ cup vanilla baking chips
• ½ cup walnuts
• Note in recipe ingredients there is a total of 1-cup flour plus 2 TB.

Attach a large tag to the outside of the jar with the following directions below for baking on one side and on other side of tag print the ingredients up above that are used in the recipe

Directions:

Preheat oven 350

• Grease bottom of a 9 inch square pan
• Pour contents from the jar into a large bowl and mix well
• Stir in 1 tsp. vanilla, 2 TB. Kahlua, 2/3 cup vegetable oil, and 3 eggs
• Beat just till combined
• Bake 22-25 minutes-do not over bake
• Dust with powdered sugar after brownies have cooled

Directions for layering ingredients for sand art brownies-press each layer down to keep packed- screw top on tightly-add ribbon and a tag

• Mix ½ cup plus 2 TB. flour
• In a wide mouth 1 quart jar layer the ingredients in the order given
• Start with flour/salt mixture
• Cocoa powder
• White sugar
• Chips
• Brown sugar
• ½ cup flour
• Walnuts

The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.

Pierre Corneille French Poet 1606-1654

Savor A Book

Two Lives Are Yours
Richard Armour
Books I think
Are extra nice.
Through books you live
Not once but twice.

You are yourself
And you are the things
With fur or fins
Or shells or wings.

As big as giants
Small as gnats
As far as stars
As close as cats.

You live today
And long ago
The future, too
Is yours to know.

You're multiplied
expanded, freed.
You're you and also
What you read.

National Children's Book Week is a time honored tradition since 1919 dedicated to spreading the word about children's literature and encouraging the joys of reading. It is held annually the week before Thanksgiving.
PW Children's Bookshelf website is a great resource on noteworthy books, authors, book events and other information related to children's literature. Scholastic Books has three new featured books for November that warrant a closer look.
The first is Danger Box by Blue Balliet.
It a mystery novel aimed for children 9-12. A kid named Zoomy who is living an ordinary life in the Midwest suddenly finds himself pulled into a mystery when he discovers a small handwritten notebook from a famous scientist delivered to his grandparent's home.

The second book is Odrous Ogre by Norton Juster written for all ages.
The story centers on a really rotten ogre who terrorizes the country side until a chance encounter with a friendly young lady brings about a change of heart.
The third book Crowfield Curse by Pat Walsh for ages 9-12.
An angel is buried behind the Abbey of Crowfield. An orphan boy is drawn into a dangerous world of old magic and into the history of the Abbey.
___________________________________________________________________

Recently I had the privilege of being a guest at a writer's group up in the northwoods. It was particularly interesting for me to be a part of a group of writers and poets whose focus is adult writing rather than young adult and children. Some of the members referenced frequently they were writing NaNoWriMo but what it sounded to me was like nanorimo. Now...not wishing to show my ignorance, I listened carefully to the discussions... hoping for hints. The kept saying I am writing in NaNoWriMo.
Thoughts raced through my head...Was this a new genre I had not heard of? Was this something to do with Native Americans? Was this a new recently coined word like refudiate? A new language? Well you can be sure after the meeting I made a beeline to my computer for enlightenment. And there it was... an acronym meaning National Novel Writing Month. Now why didn't I guess that!!!! This is a annual creative writing project you actually register online to participate and promise to write a 175 page or 50,000 word novel by midnight November 30. In 2009 there were 165,000 participants. Lucky for me it is halfway through the month so pressure is off to get involved.
_____________________________________________________________________

Cranberry and Dried Cherry Sauce

Ingredients:

• 12 oz. container frozen cranberry- raspberry juice cocktail thawed

• 1 cup water

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 2 cinnamon sticks

• 1/8 tsp. allspice

• 1- 6oz. package dried tart cherries

• 1- 12oz. bag fresh cranberries (produce dept.)

• ¼ cup Merlot

Directions:

• Bring first 5 ingredients to boiling in a saucepan stirring to dissolve sugar
• Add cherries and cook 2 minutes
• Add cranberries cook until berries pop about 8 minutes
• Stir in Merlot
• Cover and chill overnight
• To serve discard cinnamon
• Refrigerate till serving-heat on low to warm it
• Serve over turkey, chicken, pork

Continuing Poetry Tour Conversations

Another poetry tour to add to your list in the metro area St. Paul, MN.
St. Paul Public Works, Public Art St. Paul and Marcus Young and friends in 2008 implemented a city project called Everyday Poems for City Sidewalk. Marcus Young writes in his introduction to the project "Sidewalks are the blank pages of our city as a book." He goes on to say "On our modest sidewalks we hope to create delightful moments of open air reading and make public and common the beauty in our hearts as expressed by out poets."
Each year, citywide, a contest is held to invite participants to submit their poems to be added to the collection. Go to their website through GOOGLE: Everyday Poems for City Sidewalk for more information on the project, 2010 contest winners and poetry locations.