Today, I am thankful to have a career. I am thankful for cold, gray rainy days, and cloudless days too. I am thankful for sunsets and sunrises. I am thankful for the softness of a puppy’s ears, laughing babies at the library, and the knowledge that I have a hand to hold. I am thankful for whipped cream in my coffee, a fireplace I hardly use, alarm clocks and tofurkey. I am thankful that I can get out of bed in the morning and stand on my own two feet. I am thankful for books, and friends, and family, and Excedrin, and Robot Unicorn Attack. I am thankful for Muslims, Atheists, Jews, Mormons, Pagans, and Christians, and the right we have to live side by side and argue openly about our differences. I am thankful that some days acceptance of people’s differences is growing in this country. I am thankful for all the hearts that have been broken and learned to love again, for all the jerks who made it possible, and all the friends who carried them. I am thankful that I never gave up hope. I am thankful for my fingernails, for singing in the car, for waterproof eyeliner, washing my hair, and yoga. I am especially thankful that you can buy chocolate almost anywhere. I am thankful for tears, and laughter, and dirty jokes, and vegan cookies, and lesbians, and gay boys, and all the geeks and nerds. I am thankful for art and colored pencils and green bean casserole and hugs and too many books about vampires and werewolves. I am thankful that I live in a country where people are considered mostly equal, and that things do get better. And I am thankful for the internet and all the things it lets me share with the people I care about. Happy Thanksgiving.
And just to stay on food topic: here’s what I’m making for dinner right now:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/crustless-spinach-quiche/

I can’t remember how old I was, but I remember my father shouted down the hall that I had to get off the phone and come to the kitchen. I hung up on my friend, thinking maybe I was trouble. But no. The counter was laid out with ingredients, and my father explained that he was about to show me how to make hummus. Cue dramatic music of some sort.  He explained that the process was nearly as important as the ingredients, and I was to follow his process exactly.  I think I nodded sagely at him, grateful that he was about to impart this knowledge.  Or maybe I just glared at him like the teenager I was.  Here is what I learned:

Hummus

2 cups chickpeas(1 15 oz can) Smash these with a fork in a separate bowl until they look all smashy
3-4 cloves of fresh garlic. Crush and mash the garlic with
1 tsp of salt
1/2 cup of tahini
1 fresh lemon
extra water or olive oil
paprika for garnish

Once the garlic is mashed with the salt, mix that with the tahini. Juice the lemon. Use only fresh lemon juice, as my father explained that bottled lemon juice is “poison.” (I tried to make the hummus once with bottled lemon juice, and it was gross) So, back to the recipe: slowly add the lemon juice to the tahini mixture, stirring a lot. Combine this mixture with the smashed chickpeas in a food processor or blender. Blend until creamy. If the texture is not creamy enough, slowly add water, extra lemon juice, or olive oil and blend. Once the desired consistency is achieved, pour into a serving dish and and make an indentation in the hummus. Fill the indent with olive oil, and garnish the edges with paprika. Trader Joe’s also sells a fantastic African smoke seasoning that goes well with hummus.  Serve with pita bread, or pita chips. I like the multigrain pita crackers from Trader Joe’s.

If you want to be super fancy you can bust out some extra garnish of parsley, kalamata olives, or tomato slices.

If it’s not all gone when your company leaves, you can use the extra in a hummus wrap! Nom.

As a kid, I remember there were books my mom told me not read.  As a kid, I was fine with this.   But as I got older, I began to wonder: what’s in these forbidden books? By the time I was 12, I’d found one at the school library and sneaked it home.  No one recommended it to me or anything, I just knew it was one of the forbidden authors and I wanted to know.  When my mom caught me with it, it gave us an opportunity, however awkward, to discuss the “adult themes.”  In my memory, both the book and the talk with my mom were a way for me to grow.

Enter people who want to say what’s okay for you to read, and what’s not.  Honestly, if something is really too “adult” for a kid to read, they’ll probably STOP READING IT.  It may take a lot of guts to walk out of a movie in front of other people, or turn down the cigarette your friend hands you, but if a book is making you uncomfortable, no one will notice if you put it down, if indeed there is anyone there to notice in the first place.  But if you pull that same book out of someone’s hand, and label it unclean?  That’s when something becomes truly fascinating.

The darkness article may have actually backfired.  In my work at the library, I noticed that Sherman Alexie’s Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian now has a reserve list, whereas before this, it did not.  And obviously, being the person I am, I’m interested now too.

You can’t say that exposure to something necessarily leads to a desire to do that thing.  I grew up playing first person shooter games on the computer, and I refuse to own a gun.  I grew up reading books about dragons and magic, and while I still like that kind of book, I have somehow managed to avoid becoming a dragon or a magic-user.  And I know a lot of other people who haven’t become the things they’ve read about either.

I’m an adult(arguably) and I read a lot of YA books.  I also read children’s books and adult books.  I like books.  A good story is a good story, and teens can see that too.  Rainbows and happy endings just don’t make sense in today’s books unless a there is price to be paid.  And that’s if a happy ending makes sense at all.  Teens know this as surely as adults, and once they are old enough to know this, they can’t unknow it.  Some of them reach this age sooner than others, some later, but they will get there in spite or even because of their parents‘ efforts.  I’m not arguing against parental involvement, mind you, I’m all for it.  Parents should keep track of what their children are up to, like my mom did(not that I appreciated it then).  If you don’t think that what your kid is reading is appropriate, then take it away and see how far that gets you.  It’ll work just fine until it doesn’t, and then there is nothing, absolutely nothing, you can do about it.  Children grow up, and they eventually find ways to do what they want to do.  Talking about “adult issues” rather than taking them away might work out better for everyone.

What I am sure of is that I agree more with the second article.  I feel bad for that mother who couldn’t find a book for her daughter, but she couldn’t have been looking very hard.  Most bookstore staff(or teachers or librarians) love to recommend books, and with all the diversity out there(and there IS diversity) surely someone could have helped this woman.  She doesn’t have to like dark books,  and neither does her daughter.  But a lot of people do like dark books, and simply reading about darkness and knowing that it is out there is not a bad thing.

Then in January I moved to a new apartment.  And in February I was trying move my life out of boxes and get some last minute things done for the Tucson Festival of Books.  The Festival promises to be a lot of fun, and if you are reading this, you should click on the link.  Click on it!

Hanukkah Shmanukkah by Esme Raji Codell

Mr. Scroogemacher is a cranky old man who runs a factory in turn of the century America.  He has no Hanukkah Spirit or love for his fellow man until he is visited one night by three magical rabbis…

Miracle on 49th Street by Mike Lupica

This one borders on sentimental as the ending is truly miraculous for even a  children’s “realistic problem novel.”  But what I liked about it was the struggle between 12-year-old orphaned Molly, and the Boston Celtics MVP Josh Cameron, who may or may not be her father.  I liked that it was a non-traditonal family structure, and that the characters are faced with very modern moral dilemmas.

The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror by Christopher Moore

An angel arrives in a small town in California to grant a wish to a small boy.  Unfortunately the angel is non too bright, and also kinda weird, so he’s mistaken for a child molester, and run over by a stoned cop.  Throw in an aging B movie star who’s off her meds, a pilot and his fruit bat, and the lovely ex-wife of the recently murdered town curmudgeon, and things really start to get interesting.  Like with zombies.

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

Just before Christmas, the young nun Evengeline comes across a letter she cannot seem to ignore, and it begins to lead her down a path of self discovery.  She finds that her family’s past is deeply rooted in Angelology, the study of Angels, and that she herself is in the middle of the war between the children of men, and the children of angels.

The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

I haven’t read this book yet, but I don’t have to read it to know that it may be one of the most off the wall “Christmas” books out there.  Set on Pratchett’s Discworld, the ever present Death decides to take a hands on approach to the annual winter holiday of Hogswatch, and becomes the Hogfather.

Pea Soup

3 shallots, chopped

1 bag frozen peas

rubbed thyme

salt and butter to taste

1/2 cup milk(optional)

1 blender

Heat a soup pot and melt a little butter on the bottom.  Cook the shallots in the butter until they are soft and kind of clear, or even a little brown.  Pour in the frozen peas, and cover with water.  Add salt and thyme to taste.  With me, that’s about a Tablespoon of each.  Cook until it boils.  Pour the soup into a blender and blend until smooth.  Then you put it back in the soup pan and stir in the milk.  Heat it back up if you want, or allow the milk to cool the soup to slurping temperature!

Of the two books by Cynthia Leitich Smith, I liked Tantalize better, but I like the trailer for Eternal.

Quite possibly the funniest fan made trailer I’ve seen yet is this one for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame Smith.

The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman.  The last line in the video is “How actually great it is to be alive,” which was not what I heard the first time I watched it.  So I thought I’d save you the confusion.

This trailer for Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters is a bit violent, and yet somehow hilarious.  Or maybe I’m just twisted?

Leviathan, but Scott Westerfeld.  This isn’t the best trailer, but the artwork you see is actually from the book, which is an old fashioned illustrated novel!  Westerfeld said that even adult books used to be illustrated, and he wanted to reach back to that to help create that old fashioned steam punk feel.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick.

Night World by L. J. Smith.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

And the most awesome of all the awesome?  This one:

Night of the Living Trekkies, by Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall.

1 Tablespoon of olive oil

2 or 3  Zucchinis sliced into thin coins

half a red onion, sliced thin and then halved

1 can black beans

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 package of mini tortillas( I used corn, but they don’t roll up very well)

1 can tomato sauce

1 small can of green chiles

1 tsp chili powder

¼ tsp ground cumin

2 cloves minced or crushed garlic

2/3 cup water(optional)

sour cream for garnish(optional)

Chopped cilantro and green onions for garnish(optional)

A small saucepan

A baking pan at least an inch tall.

The sauce is inspired by the recipe in my Betty Crocker cookbook:  stir the tomato sauce, cumin, chili powder, two or three spoonfuls of green chiles, and one of the crushed garlic cloves together in the small saucepan.  Add water if you want a thinner sauce.  Heat and stir until boiling, then turn off the heat and set aside.

Sautee the zucchini and onion with the remaining garlic in the olive oil and set aside to cool.  Preheat the oven to 350.  Drain and rinse the can of beans.

Pour the beans into a bowl and mash with a fork or potato masher.  Mix half of the cheese into the beans.  Mix in the sautéed vegetables and a tablespoon or two of the green chiles.

Now coat the tortillas in the tomato sauce and fill each one with 2-3 tablespoons of the bean filling.  Roll the tortilla up into a tube, or fold it over and place it in the pan.  Repeat until you run out of tortillas or filling.  Pour the remaining tomato sauce evenly over the top of the enchiladas.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Bake about half an hour and eat topped with sour cream and chopped green onion and cilantro if desired.  Mmmm!

Librarian note of the day:  Just finished reading Unwind by Neal Shusterman.  It was fabulously twisted!

I noticed this week that Lord Sunday, but Garth Nix finally came out.  The end of the Keys to the Kingdom series.  I really enjoyed the first three books in that series, so I’m excited to see how it ends.

I also noticed that Bite Me, by Christopher Moore, came out this week.  This is cause for drooling.  I read Bloodsucking Fiends and You Suck, and I’m almost done with The Stupidest Angel.  This is LOL funny, no joke. If you read it in public, you will laugh until you snort, and people will stare at you like you have a giant pimple that just asked them out for coffee.  Anyway, I can’t wait to see what kind of trouble Abby Normal, Chet the vampire cat, the Animals, and Tommy and Jody manage to get into.

But I don’t have any of these books yet since they just came out.  Here are the books I’m taking on my flight tomorrow:

Scarecrow Gods by Weston Ochse.  I’m almost done with this one already, and it’s way weird.  But I love the uniqueness, and the setting in the Arizona desert makes it creepier for me, since I live there.

Sunshine by Robin McKinley.  Robin McKinley writes about vampires?  That’s really all I need to know.  Gimme!

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.  Life goes on after The Hunger Games for the two lucky winners… but nothing is the same.

The Blue Girl by Charles De Lint.  I don’t really know what it’s about yet, but the characters are interesting, and I know something totally weird is going to happen…

The Princess Present by Meg Cabot.  So they’re girly teen books, so what.  They’re hilarious, and I stand by that!

Blah, back to packing…

Blurry picture of my ingredients.

I admit it: I’m a bad role model, and I don’t eat breakfast most days.  I’m not a morning person, and all I want is caffeine mainlined into my brain, or failing that, a nice iced mocha

This morning was different.  I was actually  hungry when I got out of bed.  And this is what I made for breakfast:

1/2 – 1 cup milk or soymilk depending on how you thick you like your oatmeal

a handful of raw almonds(about 1/4 cup), chopped or ground in the blender

a handful of quick cooking oats(about 1/4 cup)

1/2 tsp of cinnamon

agave nectar or honey to taste

Stir the milk, chopped almonds, oats, and cinnamon in a bowl or a mug.  Put in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, or heat in a pan until it’s all steamy if you have time.  Sweeten to taste with honey or agave nectar.  NOM!