birdsandtrees

The Wheel on the School

I know I've said before how hard it is to find books that my school girls haven't read yet.  We've read some wonderful ones this year, like this one and this one.  I wanted to share with you the one that we recently finished,  The Wheel on the School, by Meindert Dejong.  This was a book that I knew none of them would have read, probably never heard of! 

I was a little hesitant when I first started reading it to them.  The plot is simply about this small school (like us!) in Holland (not like us!) who are trying to find a wheel to put on the roof of their schoolhouse so that storks will come to their village.  Sounds pretty exciting, right? 

What unfolds throughout the book is that the children slowly end up bringing the people of their community together.  It's a simple but beautiful story.  The book does have some flashbacks, and the pacing and timing of the book is a bit more complex, so I would recommend it for a middle or upper elementary read-aloud.  The girls loved it all the way through, and I was so glad they were able to appreciate this wonderful book.  It is one you definitely need to put on your list. 

We're currently reading The Secret Garden and we can't get enough of it!  If you don't have this one, make sure you get the one with illustrations by Tasha Tudor.  Happy Reading!

The Courage of Sarah Noble

   

We recently just finished this book at school - The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh, and I had to share it with you.  I had never read it before, but had seen it on many book lists (and on the Newbery Honor Book list as well, so you know it's going to be a quality book).  We've been studying the genre of historical fiction at school, and this book fit perfectly.  Combine that with the fact that it goes nicely with Thanksgiving, we had ourselves a winner!  It would be a great read-aloud to ones as young as 3 or 4.  And it's short, so it's a book that you could finish reading in a week or two - just right for now until Thanksgiving.

    It's the story of Sarah Noble and her father, trying to find a place for thier family to live.  They begin building their home and have adventures with the Indians and wildlife that surround them.  It's such a sweet story, and one I'm glad to have found. 

    Here's a passage that I loved...

    "That night Sarah slept warm under the quilts.  On a peg near by hung her cloak-and she did not need it.  She had kept up her courage and it was something that would always be with her.  Always - even when the cloak was all worn out. 

    Tonight the pictures in her mind were comfortable ones - home- family - the fireside and a door securely fastened.  The light from the fire made pleasant patterns in the darkness.  Sarah lay quietly, and the wind in the trees sang her to sleep." 

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We're now reading The Cabin That Faced West by Jean Fritz - another lovely book to add to your collection!

Penguin does it again...

Penguin Books has come out with another set of beautifully covered books, and this time they're right up my alley because they're children's books! You can find them at Anthropologie, of course.  These just got added to my Christmas list.

Here are some of the individual books:

  
(images found via Twig & Thistle)

Understood Betsy

This is my fourth year of having our little school in our house.  Every year it can be a challenge as I try to come up with new curriculum, new subjects to study, new authors to discover, and new books to read.  My favorite of all of those of course is finding good, living books to read aloud to the students. 

Our first chapter book read-aloud this year was Understood Betsy.  I can't remember where I heard about this one, but I'm so glad I stumbled across it.  This book was beautiful and one that I will always remember (much like this one).  It's the story of a girl named Betsy, who is sent off to live with her Putney cousins at their farm.  It makes you want to fill your house with geraniums and wear a gingham apron (the schoolteacher in the book wore one...maybe I should get started on one!).

One day at school, we decided to make some tea cookies to nibble on while we read the book.  I'd been wanting to try a recipe from this cookbook, and the Lemon Tea Cookie recipe seemed perfect (lucky for you there's another blogger out there that posted the whole recipe).  The recipe was easy and perfect to do with kids.  There's an icing that goes on top, but I was thinking some raspberry jam would be nice on top, too!  Perfect for an afternoon tea and alongside a good book. 

"That room was full to the brim of something beautiful, and Betsy knew what it was.  Its name was Happiness."  

- Understood Betsy

The Enchanted Wood and a Butterfly

Today at school, just as we did this time last year, we set our butterflies free.  We've been watching them in the different stages of their life cycle  and enjoying every minute of it!  We had one or two that had some trouble with their wings, which actually worked out well today because the girls were able to hold the butterflies for quite some time.  They even sat on some of the girls' laps during our read-aloud time.  If you're interested in getting some caterpillars sent to your home, just click here (there are some other great kits and ideas on that site for your family). 

In last year's post about the same thing, I also mentioned a good book that we read, The Gardener.   So this time I thought I'd also post about a book we're reading currently: Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton.  The author is an English writer, and her books are not that prevalent around these parts.  I'm always on the hunt for quality children's books, and I found out about Enid from Jane Brocket's beautiful book, Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer.  

 

We've been reading the book after lunch everyday, and every time we have to stop I'm met with groans and pleas of "No!!! Please read one more chapter.  Just one!! Please!!"  It's a bit dramatic, but I really can't blame them.  Each chapter leads you on an adventure that makes you want to keep reading.  To me, it feels like a mix of Narnia, James and the Giant Peach, a bit of Harry Potter, and Boxcar Children.  So how could you go wrong?!  There are many more books with these same characters, and I may just have to start collecting them.  You can never have to many children's books, right?

 

I'll leave you with one last picture of our butterfly, perched on one of the cosmos we planted yesterday.  Loveliness all around.    

Awesome Blossom

I'm not sure what it is (maybe the change in weather?), but I lately I've had the yearning to make something.  I haven't used my sewing machine in months, it feels like.  Today I went down to the basement and spent hours just sewing, gluing, and crafting.  It felt so good.  There is something about the sound of the sewing machine...the sound of progress and creativity.  I love it.

A month or so ago, I bought a new craft book - I Love Patchwork by Rashida Coleman-Hale.  In the book there are 21 projects that use a patchwork of  fabrics - always a linen mixed with other prints.  I love the look of linen and it's inspired me to get out my stash and get crackin!  

I decided to make one of the easier projects from the book - the "Blossom Pincushion."  I'm a firm believer that having cute tools or supplies makes a process even more fun (Example: Having a beautiful kitchen towel makes washing dishes much more enjoyable).  So I thought the pincushion would be just the right thing to keep my craft momentum going.  Why wouldn't I want to sew if I could put my pins and needles in this cute pincushion?!

  All you need for the project is a flower-shaped paint dish (what you would normally use for water color or some sort of painting), polyfill (or some type of stuffing), and 6 fabric scraps (I used one linen and 5 random scraps I had lying around). 

The short version of directions is this: after you cut out a circle from each scrap, you put a little ball of filling in it, then bundle the fabric all around it and hot glue it down into the dish.   The book of course has all the directions and lots of other beautiful projects.  

This was just the project I needed.  Now onto the next!

Lemony Goodness

As spring approaches and the temps begin rising, I've been wanting to make more "spring-like" desserts- light, airy, simple, and easy.  So this weekend I picked the perfect recipe to fit the bill - Orangette's "French-Style Yogurt Cake with Lemon."  I've made it once before, and after making it again, I think this may become one of those recipes that I whip out all the time. 

Since it is french-style, it's also called "Gateau au Citron," and I think I like that better.  In my mind, I like to picture the Maman of the household mixing this cake up, for when les enfants come home from school, or for that unexpected company.  And les amis and the neighbors just wonder, "How does she do it?"  Little do they know, this cake is easy.  And oh so good.  

Orangette has the recipe here, but in her book (which you all need to get and which I posted about here), she makes a couple of changes.  In the book, she adds a syrup and a glaze on top, which I highly recommend.

Here's the basic recipe, with my notes and adaptations:

Preheat oven to 350.  

Prepare baking dish: grease a 9" round cake pan (she also says to then line it with parchment and then grease one more time...but I might skip this step next time.  Cutting parchment paper is not fun.)  

Whisk dry ingredients in medium bowl together: 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, pinch of salt (I used an 1/8 teaspoon as my "pinch"), and 2 teaspoons lemon zest

Mix wet ingredients (in stand mixer) in the following order: 1/2 cup whole-milk yogurt (I used Stonyfield's vanilla...make sure it's whole-milk and you stir it well!), 1 C sugar, 3 eggs

Now, slowly add dry ingredients into wet ingredients.  Don't overmix - then add 1/2 C vegetable oil.  Mix until smooth. 

Pour into cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  You could enjoy the cake at this point just as it is.  You could throw some blueberries on the plate with it (or spread some jam on top) and call it a day.  Or...you could add a syrup and glaze.  If you choose that adventure, read on. 

Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes.  While it's cooling, mix syrup: 1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar and 1/4 cup lemon juice. 

Take cake out of pan and spoon the syrup over the dome-shaped/top of cake.  I did this on my wire rack with a cookie sheet underneath it to catch the drippings. 

Let it cool completely.  While it's cooling, mix glaze: 1 C sifted powdered sugar (I didn't sift and it came out fine) and 3 T lemon juice.  Pour over cooled cake. 

And voila! You've got Gateau au Citron.  My choice of cake for spring.  Merci, Orangette!

Our Lenten Garden

I know I've said this before, but I love weaving in our Christian traditions and seasons into our school day.  It sets a rhythm for our day and year.

For the season of Lent, we made our own "Lenten Garden."  I know there are many different ways to do this, with different variations, but I thought I'd share what we did.  It's super easy!

Let me first say that I recently bought Ann Druitt's All Year Round, a beautiful book that gives you tons of ideas to do with kids for all the holidays and seasons through the year (the product description on the amazon page describes the book perfectly).  

So one of the ideas for Lent is to build a "Lenten Garden."  In the book, the garden is built at the beginning of Holy Week, but we just went ahead and got our garden ready.  I loosely followed the instructions in the book, which you can find here. 

On our nature walk today, we gathered the necessary supplies: lots of moss, stones, rocks,  and a small branch for our Lenten tree (my friend Lauren uses two sticks that make a cross instead of a tree).  Back at school, we assembled the moss over some rocks in a pie plate.  You could use any shallow dish you have!  

We formed a "grotto" from clay that you bake in the oven, and placed it next to the tree.  Then a patch of stones from the tree to the grotto was next.  I squeezed in a small terracotta pot dish to make a "pond," with a piece of bark as the "bridge" over the pond. 

 

We added some other rocks around and then I spritzed it really well with water (and will continue to do so in the coming weeks).  During Holy Week, we'll add the stone that gets rolled in front of the tomb/grotto. 

And on Easter morning, the stone will be rolled away and the garden will be alive with flowers!

*If you'd like to see another example, check out this site.   Also, we've been reading Helen Haidle's Journey to the Cross - I'm really enjoying it so far and would recommend it as a great Lenten reading to do with kids. 

Another British Chef I Love...

Well since I'm on the topic of chefs that I love who happen to be from England, I figured I'd share about my other favorite chef, Nigella Lawson.  I could watch her shows over and over and never tire of them.  If you've never seen her cook, or listened to the way she talks about cooking and food, you are really missing out.  She's had several different shows, but her Christmas specials are my absolute favorite.  Recently, James has been watching the new season of 24 (and I can't watch it because it's too stressful for me).  So while he's watching his show, I've found myself in our office, in front of the computer, on you tube watching playlists of Nigella clips.  They are addictive and so much better to me than any drama on TV.  This past week I've been watching a bunch of the clips from her "Summer" series.  She's on holiday with her kids cooking in this beautiful house by the water (I love this video...only Nigella can look that good in a towel wrapped on her head).  Here is a clip of some cookies from one of her Christmas episodes...so beautiful and soothing!

I've been checking out her books from the library and pouring through them.  I made her Chocolate Pistachio Fudge (pictured above) from Nigella Express.  If you're interested, she shows you how to make them (so simple!) on this video.  I've also been loving her book, How to be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking.  I wish she lived in the neighborhood and we could cook together.  Man that would be awesome. 

One more pic of the fudge for good measure...

Good Eats

I love this guy.  I have all of his cookbooks..seriously...all of them.  I used to tape his television show in college.  I was the person that, after seeing his show, went out and bought the hand-cranking pasta machine to make my own pasta.  He just has that affect on me! 

To make matters worse, James gave me his latest book, Jamie's Food Revolution.  In the book, he teaches you how to make simple, affordable, and delicious meals.  He is pushing this movement of changing the way we cook at home.  The basic premise of the book is for you to make at least one recipe from the book and to then teach one of those recipes to your friends, and then hopefully they will pass it on to their friends, and so on and so on.  The recipes are made for beginner cooks, so they're not daunting or overwhelming.  I will admit that I haven't made a single recipe from some of his other cookbooks that I have because they were a little out there for me.  But these recipes are perfect for us. 

Here are some of the recipes that James and I have made from the book:

Cherry Tomato Sauce with Cheat's Fresh Pasta

Chicken Korma

Leftover Curry Biriani

Chicken Tikka Masala

Vindaloo (it's another curry dish...can you tell that we love the curry chapter?)

Dressed Asparagus

Crunchy Garlic Chicken

Everything we've made has been delicious.  Love it.  Recommend it. 

So if you live in the neighborhood, wanna come over for some curry?