What we've been reading

Summer Reading!  We haven't done the library program this summer but we've been reading on our own and together . . . for the together part, mostly audio books.  We have listened to the first two Harry Potter books and this little gem:

In this book, the main character loves food, cooking, and has lost her kitchen privileges due to an unfortunate creme brûlée incident with a blow torch.  My girls loved this book and are looking forward to reading or listening to the sequel soon.  It has inspired them to cook and be in the kitchen more so more cooking adventure posts to come!

One of the things I love about not working in the summer and about vacation, is reading a bunch. These four really stood out to me.  I won't bother summarize or review but I'll put a quote from each book under the image.  Any suggestions for what I should read next??

"It is not an act of bravery to try to save your own village.  It is an instinct to protect what you possess.  Bravery is when you step in to help when you have nothing to lose."

"We read to know we're not alone.  We read because we are alone.  We read and we are not alone.  We are not alone.  We are not quite novels.  We are not quite short stories.  In the end, we are collected works."

"Had they known at these moments to be quietly joyful?  People mostly did not know enough when they were living life that they were living it."

"Rough as life can be, I know in my bones we are supposed to stick around and play our part . . . And it might be you never know the part you played, what it meant to someone to watch you make your way each day.  Maybe someone or something is watching us all make our way.  I don't think we get to know why."

Kids in the kitchen

One of my goals as a mom is to say "yes" to my kids when they want to do something and it might seem inconvenient to me but it would ultimately be good for them.  Lately, there have been a lot of requests to cook, bake, and help in the kitchen so I'm trying to take advantage of that.  I think this has been inspired by a book we've been reading but more on that in my next post!

The other night, I wanted to make fried rice with leftover rice and some grilled mahi-mahi that we needed to use up.  When I told Big she could make that, Middle wanted in on the action, so I said she could be in charge of the kids' food that night.  She made grilled cheese with a side dish of ice cream sandwiches. Little was very happy with the side dish choice and her chore for the evening was setting the table.

Big did a pretty good job following the recipe . . . I had to help her scramble the egg, do some chopping, and judge when the rice was fried enough.

You can find the original recipe for fried rice here.  We added the grilled mahi-mahi at the end until it was heated through.  If you haven't seen my technique for grilled cheese - it's a complete lifesaver and now that Middle can do it, she can help me out at lunch time or supper time.