Remembering 9/11

 

     Whenever I think of 9/11, the first image that comes to my mind is the sight of that massive tower crashing to the ground.  13 years ago, I watched as streams of firefighters and EMTs marched straight into the World Trade Center, intent on finding and rescuing anyone they could.  Just moments afterwards, the building collapsed.  I clasped my hands over my mouth in terror and looked desperately at my husband, wanting him to somehow assure me that what we had just seen didn't really happen.  But his face was frozen in the same shocked horror as mine.  There would be no reassurances that day, no one to tell us that it didn't really happen.

     After the violent horror, the thing I remember most about the days following 9/11 was the quiet.  I live in California, thousands of miles away from New York, Washington, D.C. and the Pentagon, and here, we staggered around in muted silence.  There were no airplanes, no helicopters, the sky was eerily quiet.  In grocery stores and gas stations, people didn't talk.   An entire nation was clutched in the grips of such deep mourning, that we could barely even look at each other.  But just when things were darkest, hope started to appear. 

     It looked like ash covered firefighters raising the American over twisted metal and broken concrete.  It looked like American flags lining the streets of nearly every town in America.  It looked like people from every walk of life gathering together to bow their heads and pray.

 

 

     It became clear that what the terrorists meant to bring us to our knees and tear us apart in defeat, was in fact going to be exactly what made us stand up and join together as one. 

 

     9/11 wasn't the first time that our nation was roused to unity, it had happened nearly 60 years before in 1941.  My Granny always used to make it a point to tell me about Pearl Harbor when I was a kid.  I always listened to her stories, but a part of me didn't quite understand why it was so important for her to tell me about it every year.  Now I know.  The only way to honor what we lost on that day, is to remember it.  To talk about it, to tell our children and our children's children about that September morning when America stood still, and then took a collective breath and decided to live again.

 

     Where were you when 9/11 happened?  What are the images you remember?  Talk about them with someone today.  Let yourself remember.  And in your remembrance, may you find peace.  May you remember hope. 

 

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

 . . . . . .

 

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I'll rise.

 

- Maya Angelou



 

 



Top 10 Things About Reading a Bookbook

 

Happy "National Read A Book" Day!

 

     Today, September 6th, is every author's dream holiday:  "National Read A Book Day".  As a little girl, I lived on a remote and isolated Indian reservation.  There was one TV channel, no phones and spotty electricity service.  (I laugh a little bit now when I think about it, because my childhood sounds like a perfect writer's retreat!) 

 

     Books were a haven for me, allowing me to go to exciting places on heart-racing adventures, all from the safety and comfort of my make-shift fort in the woods.  The nearest "library" was a one room office with 5-6 shelves of books that was almost an hour away.  Since we didn't go into town often, I re-read the books I did have a dozen or more times.  And when I got tired of those books, I resorted to reading . . . the dictionary.  I'm pretty sure next to the phrase "Word Nerd" in that dictionary, was a picture of me.

 

     In our amazing technological time, we now have access to thousands of books at the push of a button.  We can even read books on our phones (who saw that one coming?) Amazon is promising that one day soon, little flying drones will deliver books to our doorstep within hours of ordering them.  Amazing!  While e-readers practically ooze convenience, I'm still a sucker for an actual book.  I was beginning to think that I might be the only one, until I saw a cute ad by IKEA about a bookbook.

 

 

     Thus inspired, I've come up with my own "Top 10" list to extol the virtue of the "bookbook" on this "National Read a Book Day".   

 

 

Top 10 Things About Reading a Bookbook

 

1.  You don't have to sit next to a wall outlet to read a bookbook.  Bookbooks can be read anywhere, anytime, in any sort of comfortable sitting or lying position.  You won't find yourself forced to sit by an outlet on a sketchy airport floor just to read your bookbook.

 

 



 

2.  Bookbooks give you a really good reason to spend an hour sipping coffee and walking around a bookstore.  Sure, your e-book is efficient, but quiet moments spent browsing in a bookstore are one of life's greatest treasures.  Plus, if you're an introvert, a bookstore is the ideal social venue to keep your extrovert friends from worrying about you.  No, you didn't just spend the entire weekend locked in your house, you went out . . . to the bookstore.

 



 

3.  You don't have to wait for your bookbook to load before reading it.  With a bookbook, you just open the pages and BAM, you're reading.

 



 

4.  You don't have to click through advertisements every time you want to read your bookbook.  With a bookbook, you don't have to click your way through pages of ads trying to sell you books that you're not interested in reading.  Thanks to Netflix, I don't even have to watch ads to view my favorite TV show.  Why do I have to wait for ads before I earn the privilege of reading my e-book?

 



 

5.  If you lose your bookbook, you don't lose your entire reading library.  Let's face it, dogs eat books, kids destroy books.  One lost bookbook will set you back about $10.  One lost e-book, and you're looking at hundreds of bucks down the drain.

 



 



 

6.  You won't suffer a repetitive-use thumb injury from reading a bookbook.  Thumb arthritis and Cubital Tunnel Syndrome are both caused by repetitive use of the thumb.  Every time your thumb clicks that little arrow button to flip the page, you could be one step closer to wearing one of those unfortunate looking thumb gloves. 

 

 

7.  If you accidentally drop or sit down on your bookbook, the worst case scenario is that you have to pick it up.  Drop or sit down on your e-reader and it's a whole new level of heartache.  Not only is it really difficult to read a book on a shattered screen, but the cost of replacing the screen is enough to make anyone want to cry.





8.  You won't get dirty looks from the church usher if you read the Good Bookbook in church.  Bust out your iPhone and start perusing your favorite New Testament book in the middle of the sermon and you're likely to get some stern glances from anyone over 30.  Besides that, no one wants their pastor to think they're texting in the middle of his riveting Numbers sermon.

 

 

9.  Your e-reader looks ridiculous sitting all alone in the cool new bookcases you ordered for your living room.  And you've just kissed goodbye every opportunity you ever had at striking up an impromptu literary conversation with a visiting guests who notices an interesting bookbook in your collection.



10.  Passing down your entire collection of first edition, hard-back, Harry Potter bookbooks to your grandchildren is way cooler than bequeathing them a 40-year old e-reader.  Yes, even our fancy new e-readers, will some day go the wayside route of 8-track tapes and VHS.  What's new and cutting edge to us, will be like an Atari game system to future generation.  "Uh, gee, thanks, Grandma, but they don't even make software to support this thing anymore."  A good bookbook, however, is timeless.



 

     Well, I've weighed in on the e-reader vs. bookbook debate, so how about you?  What do you prefer?  At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter how you read your book, as long as you read it somehow.  And if you need a good recommendation for a book to read with your kids, check out the titles listed to the left of this blog.  Available on Amazon and other sites, in both "bookbook" and "e-versions". 

 

 



 



Crock Pot Cilantro Lime Chicken

 

Crock Pot Cilantro Lime Chicken

 

You can tell the Back-to-School routine has begun.    It's Thursday and between running kids to school, play practice, tennis practice, meetings and back to school nights, dinner time is in serious jeopardy.  But wait, what is that flying in to save dinner time?  Is it a bird?  Is it a plane?  No, it's . . . Super Crock Pot!

The Crock Pot.  What a magical invention.  You just throw a bunch of uncooked food in it, turn it on and a few hours later . . . Dinner.  You don't even have to tap the lid and say abracadabra, but I highly recommend it, especially if your kids are in the room.  It never hurts for them to think you have magical powers.

 

Here's one of my favorite, versatile and tasty crock pot recipes:  Cilantro Lime Chicken. 

 

Throw some chicken breasts, a jar of your favorite salsa, taco seasoning and a little squirt of lime juice into your Crock Pot and a few hours later dinner will magically appear.  Shred the cooked chicken and use it to make tacos, burritos, fajitas, chicken taco salad, enchiladas, quesadillas or just about any other delicious, Mexican chicken based recipe you've got on hand.  It's that easy.  It's that good. Dinner time is safe . . . at least for today.

 

Cilantro Lime Chicken

1 16-ounce jar of your favorite salsa
1 package dry taco seasoning
2 tbsp. lime juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Put salsa, taco seasoning and lime juice in the Crock Pot and stir to combine.  Add the chicken breasts and stir to coat with salsa mixture.  Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Add cilantro the last hour of cooking.  Shred chicken and let soak in juices until ready to serve.  Then thank your Crock Pot for saving dinner time, once again.



 

 

 

Snickerdoodle Pumpkin Bread

Snickerdoodle Pumpkin Bread

It's September 2nd and it's supposed to be 100 degrees where I live today, but I am declaring it Fall!  I've marked this most hallowed day by baking my favorite pumpkin recipe from last year:  Snickerdoodle Pumpkin Bread.  This sweet bread is moist, richly spiced and topped with a  delectable, buttery, cinnamon-crumble topping.  I'm just going to share the recipe below because I honestly find those recipe posts with the long rambling description of the baking process, interspersed with the food porn shots of sticks of butter and cups of flour, really annoying. 

 

 

PUMPKIN BREAD:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. allspice

1/2 tsp. cloves

1- 15 oz. can of pumpkin (just under 2 cups)

1 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup water

 

STREUSEL TOPPING:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. cinnamon

2 tablespoons butter, cubed

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour two loaf pans or line muffin pan with paper liners.  Set aside.

 

In a large bowl (or kitchen-aid mixer), whisk together pumpkin, oil, honey and water.  In a separate bowl, whisk together flours, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. 

 

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just incorporated.  Do not over mix the batter or your bread will be tough.  If necessary, scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula and fold the ingredients gently together.

 

Divide the batter evenly between the pans or fill muffin cups 2/3 of the way full.

 

For the Streusel Topping:  In a small bowl, mix flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon until well combined.  Cut in cubed butter until mixture begins to loosely hold together.  Sprinkle the topping evenly over pans muffins.

 

Bake the bread 1-hour or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Bake muffins for about 20 minutes (check with toothpick).  

 

Enjoy with a cozy cup of tea or coffee and rejoice that it's finally Fall! 

 



Man Cannot Live on Pumpkin Alone . . . Or Can He?

This is my plan.  Let the pumpkin-flavored-everything season begin!