The Foundation of Food

As you probably know by now if you have been reading my posts for a while, I have a love of food. I manage my local farmers market during the summer, I bake for friends and family, and Emily has been cooking with me since she was four. I can pears and peaches, make apple butter, and Emily and I attend Cook Book Club at our local library. You could say, food is one of the foundations of our life.

Food brings people together, brings comfort on sad occasions, brings joy at celebrations, and allows our creativity to spring forth. Food is a tie that binds people the world over, and so I thought it would be nice this week to review some books about cooking and food.

The first book I read was a short but fun book titled Baking With Dad. The story shows a young girl sharing a glorious morning in the kitchen making a masterpiece and a mess, and the masterpiece turns out to be a birthday cake for the girl's brother. I like this book for several reasons, the first being that I love any book that positively displays a dad interacting with his children. Secondly, I love that a parent is passing on a passion for cooking. I also love the colorful illustrations that effectively show joy on every page.

The second book I read was Blue Corn Soup. The story  has a definite Spanish flavor as the main character is a Abuelita (grandma) mouse making blue corn sopa (soup). Several of her forest friends small the lovely aroma of Abuelita's soup and make their way to her house. But Abuelita's soup pot is too small to share, that is until she has the wonderful idea of everyone contributing something to the meal. The story reminds me a lot of one of my favorite childhood stories, Stone Soup.

And since we are on a cooking/food roll (no pun intended) why stop at two books? Some other great books I've read in the past that are related to cooking or food are:

And of course there is my very own Cooking In Fern Valley.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter  @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

The Southern Kentucky Book Festival And Some Really Great Books!

Spring is proving to be a busy season for me, and every weekend is pretty much booked until May second. On the eleventh I went to my local library for the Drop Everything And Read event. This past weekend I went to the Southern Kentucky Book Festival. Next weekend I will be participating in Ohioana. And the weekend after that, I will be at the Hudson Children's Book Festival in Hudson New York.



 

Marvin Memorial Library Event
 

Since I am so busy, I don't really have time to read and review books like I normally do, so I thought I would share some great books from the events I attend. I made a new friend in tablemate Gail Nall this past weekend. Her debut book is called, Breaking The Ice. It is a book about a girl who wants to be an Olympic Skater. The cover alone is enough to catch my interest, and the back matter makes it sound perfect for girls eight to twelve.

 

Gail Nall and I at SOKY

 

And of course there was Finley Flowers Original Recipe by my friend Jessica Young. And since you all know I love to cook, how could I not recommend this book about a girl entering a cooking contest?

 

Flanked by Kristin Tubb, Jessica Young, and Gail Nall

 

And last but not least, a book illustrated by my friend Susan Eaddy called My Love For You Is The Sun. Her work with sculpting clay is so amazing that you just have to purchase this book and see for yourselves.

 

Susan Eaddy and I 

 

 Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, the sequel, Return To Fern Valley, and the soon to be released Cooking In Fern Valley (fall 2015)! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

Those Great How To Books!

There are so many great books to read for the sheer pleasure of reading, but often we forget about what I like to call the "How To Books". These are books that instruct us how to do some particular thing like crafts, building with Legos, gardening, and much more. Cook books are a big hit at our house because I love to cook and my daughter loves to help me. She loves to help so much that she told me when she was four, "I am a good cook mommy. I know how to make coffee (this from watching my husband), sandwiches, cereal, and salads." Now that she is seven, her expertise includes toasting bagels and English muffins. She has also helped me with many a batch of cookies, brownies, and cakes.   

As an avid collector of old cookbooks found at auctions, garage sales, thrift stores, and bargain basement rummage sales at local churches, I wondered if my Betty Crocker's Cook Book for Boys and Girls was still available. Much to my surprise, this 1957 classic can still be found at Amazon. I thought with summer quickly approaching I would try to involve Emily in more cooking projects. Two particular recipes that I think will be fun to try are the Ice Cream Cone Cakes (who wouldn't love one of those?) and the Good Kid Cookies which look like faces of boys and girls.

At the end of summer perhaps I'll post a pictures of our creations. Meanwhile, I would love to hear what kind of "How To Books" you and your sprouts like? 

Signing off for now with wishes for a bright and beautiful day!