Utensils optional

I got some great suggestions for the book club menu, but I was out of town yesterday and I didn't have time to get all of the supplies I needed. So I had to simplify and make a few modifications to what I wanted. Here's the final menu I decided on. Most of the items could be tied into the book at least slightly, so I figured it's as good as I can do given my busy schedule this week.

And as a bonus, as I was unpacking a box a few weeks ago, I found a paper-mache sculpture that the pumpkin did for a school book report project a year or two ago. It was only as I was preparing things for the dinner that I realized it was supposed to represent Katniss! So I even have something applicable for decorating the table!

The main question yet is... do I, or do I not, allow them to use utensils? When we did Snow Flower and the Secret Fan we had chinese food and chopsticks (with regular utensils optional). So I could probably get buy with letting them forage for their utensils... It all depends on how much of an ornery shit I choose to be.

Time will tell!

Appetizer:

• Cheese & crackers, including pita crackers (aka Peeta... bad pun I know!) and goat cheese spread with herbs

Main Course:

• Grilled chicken legs & thighs, basted with my homemade vinegar-based barbecue sauce
• Steamed baby carrots
• Spring greens & herb tossed salad (including dried cherries, mushrooms, & sunflower seeds)
• Various breads: 3 types of 'crusty rolls' - one with sesame seeds, one with poppy seeds, and one with some other unidentifiable seeds, croissants, and homemade whole wheat bread with green food coloring in it

Dessert:

• Fresh strawberries & fruit dip
• Miniature cookies & brownies
  

Beverages:

• Mint tea
• Wine

Three things that begin with P

1. Pets

The kids are with me this week, which means the dog is too. And we're all having fun with the kitties, but I'm not sure Rina is having as much fun. Before bringing her to my house, every time we took the dog out, she and her siblings would come up to see her, and she'd nuzzle and lick them. Now Rina is in Mandy's territory and Mandy is not too happy about it.

First of all, Mandy doesn't get to go to her basement. The kittens are living in the downstairs bathroom, and since Mandy made her own squeak toy out of the baby bird she found in the back yard the last time she was here, I'm a bit nervous about how she might play with a kitten! So she's not too happy with that gate across the stairway.

She's also determined to let Rina know whose house it is. Whenever she sees Rina, she runs up to her and puts a paw on her back to push her down. Rina just stops moving when Mandy approaches, and sits there calmly with the paw on her back.

We are equally determined to NOT let Mandy show Rina who is boss. So whenever Mandy pulls her paw on the back, my daughter puts her hand on Mandy's back and pushes her to the floor and holds her until she stops fighting. Mandy is pretty sure that she's the one in control, so she's not happy with this.

Hopefully they learn to coexist soon. And when little Zephyr is bigger and we let him out, I think Mandy may get a few swats to her nose if she tries this with him. I certainly hope so... someone needs to put her in her place!

2. Plants

One of these was hiding in the long grass I pulled on Sunday.

I am less than happy about that today. We're going to have a little Roundup battle soon.

3. Publications

I just finished reading The Hunger Games over the weekend, and on Friday my book club meets at my house. I've been trying to plan an appropriate menu for our dinner; below are the ideas I've come up with so far. If any of you have read this book and can offer any alternative suggestions, please speak up!

The Hunger Games Menu

Main Course

Chicken legs/thighs cooked on an a charcoal grill
it's not rabbit or wild turkey on an open fire, but it's the closest I can easily do
Endive salad with hard boiled egg
with a warm bacon sweet & sour creamy dressing
Katniss would find greens for salads... I'm not sure what sort of dressing she may have used on them, but since her sister had a goat, it could have involved a milk base.
Steamed whole carrots
Katniss ate a lot of roots, and generally boiled them
Variety of bread from various regions
I'm making a loaf of homemade whole-wheat bread in my breadmaker and adding green food coloring because the book specifically mentioned a green bread from one of the regions.
I'll also purchase a few other regional breads (i.e. croissants?) as well.

Dessert

Strawberries, and other mixed berries over angel food cake
Katniss found a wild strawberry patch and sold the berries to the mayor.
Other berries she found in the woods and ate. (I will avoid any poison berries, as she did!)

Beverage:

Mint tea
Katniss would chew on a mint leaf when food was scarce to
trick her body into thinking she had food

As an alternative, I thought I could just serve a mixed greens salad with some added items you might find in the wild... sunflower seeds, mushrooms, dried cherries, etc. Possibly with some crumbled feta cheese, since Katniss' sister had a goat.

I'm considering serving the meal without utensils... but the salad isn't very conducive to that. It's not like Katniss had utensils during the games. My daughter loved this idea... not sure how the other book club members would take it though!

A productive weekend

I finally have my library!!!

I've been stocking up on furniture. A few weeks ago I found a futon at a garage sale for Blondie to take to college, and late last week, the new mattress cover came in the mail. About the same time, I picked up MY futon at Sam's Club, so the library got stuffed with both futons. I picked up an old black trunk at a resale shop that seemed like the perfect "coffee table" for a library, and added that too.

My brother and sister-in-law and their kids came out for the day on Saturday. My SIL and I cleaned the library... washed all the shelves, cabinets, walls, and ceiling. We swept the area rug thoroughly, and washed the floor around the edge of the rug. The musty mildew smell is gone, as is all of the sticky tape adhesive we found all over the walls.

When we finished the cleaning on the shelves, we began unpacking boxes. I think I unpacked around a dozen boxes of books. I know there are a few more boxes to go, but finding some of these books was a bit like Christmas to me.

I'd still like to paint the window & door trim, and the closet doors, but Blondie thinks is new room is cozy and likes the current dark colors, so it's going to be low on my priority list. For now, I'm just glad to have my library! Even if it does have to double as Blondie's bedroom when he comes to visit.