The Civility Solution

P.M. Forni the author of the book The Civility Solution will be a speaker at our next development program for employees at the library. His book is interesting and offers a guide to being civil in our lives.
1. Slow down and be present in your life.
2. Listen to the voice of empathy.
3. Keep a positive attitude.
4. Respect others and grant them plenty of validation.
5. Disagree graciously and refrain from arguing.
6. Get to know the people around you.
7. Pay attention to the small things.
8. Ask, don't tell.

Forni also offers a litany of scenarios and the civil solution that should follow. These situations are particularly helpful when dealing with rude people. Most of the information he provides seems like common sense to a person who has manners but so many of us forget our manners. I think it could be the situation. For example some when some people get into their cars they turn into a completely different animal.....a raging one. Or perhaps someone is mad and writes you an email  saying things they would never say to you in person.  Personally I think many children are not taught manners and don't see civility in their homes.. Young people don't know how to treat others or have good manners unless someone teaches them and most importantly practices them.

Laurie King I love your Sherlock!

I think Laurie King has done an excellent job of  recreating Sherlock Holmes in her Mary Russell series. I just finished the Beekeeper's Apprentice and I loved it. The young and modern Mary Russell becomes friends with Sherlock despite their age and gender differences. Russell, as Sherlock calls her, brings out a much more humorous and caring side of Holmes. Russell becomes a student of the ways of Sherlock Holmes and eventually a match for his detecting skills. There are many adventures packed into the first book in the Mary Russell series, The Beekeepers Apprentice.

Strawberry Jelly

I have been wanting to try canning for many years. I recently found a great book about canning called, The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. There are so many things you can preserve from fruit to vegetables to salsa. I decided to try strawberry jelly since it is my favorite.

I used the recipe in the chapter called, Fruit Jellies with Liquid Pectin.

Strawberry Jelly

Makes about seven 8 oz. jars. ( I got 8 jars and probably could have gotten 9 if I would have had the jar prepared.)

3 3/4 C Strawberry juice for jelly
4T lemon juice
7 1/2 C sugar
2 pouches (each 3 oz.) liquid pectin

To make the  3 3/4 C strawberry juice you will need about 11 C of fresh strawberries, carefully cleaned, hulled, and sliced.  Add about 2 C water to the strawberries and bring to a boil in a stainless saucepan. Before the berries begin to boil I used a pastry cutter and a large spoon to smash the berries. Reduce heat, cover lightly, and boil gently stirring constantly until berries are softened, about 5-10 minutes. Transfer strawberries to a strainer with very small holes or use cheesecloth and allow to drip for 2 hours.

When the juice is ready I start to heat the lids and the jars.  They both must be heated to be sanatized. (you don't need to heat the rings) I heated the lids in a small saucepan and used a magnetic lid lifter to get the hot lids out of the water. It is a very handy tool to have.

Combine strawberries, lemon juice and sugar. Over high heat bring to a full boil, stirring constantly. The boling should not stop when stirring. Add the liquid pectin and stir, while still boiling for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim foam from top.

Pour liquid into hot jars, wipe rim, center lid, and add ring.

Place jars in canner. Make sure they are all covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, remove jars, cool and store.

Check the lids after 24 hours to make sure they have been properly sealed. The lid should be concave and you should be able to take off the ring, hold the jar by the lid and the lid should not come off. If  the jar is not sealed properly you can reporcess or put in the refrigerator and use right away.

My First Curry

I am a lover of Indian food but I have never attempted to make anything at home.... until now. I was reading one of Jamie Oliver's recent cookbooks and he had an entire chapter on easy curries. I thought I would give Chicken Korma a try. To my delight it turned out great. To the dismay of my husband and our dog Maggie (apparently both non-lovers of Indian food and Indian food smell) the smell of my delicious cooking chased them both from the house. Jason went down the street for Italian take out and Maggie stayed in the backyard eating grass (not a good sign). Hours later the smells of the spices are still wafting through the house, Jason just sprayed lysol and opened more windows but I am enjoying a fully tummy and the smells of my first curry success.

Chicken Korma

2# chicken breast
1 medium onion
1 fresh green chile
a thumb size piece of ginger root
15 oz can garbanzo beans
vegetetable oil
a pat of butter
1/2 C mild curry paste (Patak's)
14 oz can of coconut milk
a small handful of sliced almonds
2 heaping T unsweetened shredded coconut
salt and pepper

opitonal toppings
natural yogurt
lemon

Prepare:
Cut chicken into small pieces. Finely chop onion. Half, seed, and finely slice chile, Peel and finely chop ginger. Chop cilantro. Drain garbanzo beans.

Make Curry:
Saute oil, butter, onion, chile, ginger and cilantro for about 10 minutes until golden. Keep stirring to aviod burning.

Add curry paste, coconut milk, half of your slices almonds, drained garbanzo beans, coconut, and chicken. Also add 1/2 can water. Stir everything, bring to a boil and lower heat to simmer covered for 30 minutes. Check regularly to make sure it's not drying out. (My curry was rather liquid so I added a bit of flour to thicken the sauce.)

When chicken is tender and cooked season with salt and pepper.

Serve with rice. Sprinkle with a few almonds and cilantro.
You may also add a few spoonfuls of yogurt to the top and juice of a lemon wedge. (I left these out)

Enjoy :-)

Strawberry Ice Cream Cake

2 loaves of pound cake ( I used Entemann's Butter Cake)
1 small container of strawberry sorbet or sherbet
Vanilla ice cream
Fresh strawberries
Whipped Cream
Sugar

All you have to do is layer the ingredients.
Pound cake
Vanilla ice cream
Strawberry sorbet
Pound Cake
Vanilla Ice Cream

Freeze for a minimum of 4 hours.

In a bowl mix the sliced strawberries with a little sugar and refrigerate.
When ready to serve top with whipped cream and fresh strawberries. We did this by the slice because we did not eat the whole cake and did not want to freeze the fresh strawberries when we put it back in the freezer, they are too hard to eat frozen.

Duggar's tater Tot Casserole

1 pound ground turkey, cooked, seasoned, and drained
1 bag frozen tater tots
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can broccoli and cheese soup
1 12 oz can evaporated milk

Mix the soup and milk in a bowl.
In a 9 x 12 casserole dish layer the meat, and tater tots. Pour the soup and milk mixture over top.
Bake, uncovered,  at 350 for 1 hour.

Maggie Sefton Knitting Mysteries

I love to knit and I enjoy reading mysteries so when the two come together in this series I couldn't be happier. Maggie offers knitting patterns and I made the tank top in Needled to Death and the mittens in Fleece Navidad.

#1 Knit One, Kill Two
#2 Needled to Death
#3 A Deadly Yarn
#4 A Killer Stitch
#5 Dyer Consequences
#6 Fleece Navidad
#7 Dropped Dead Stitch

Jo Dereske’s Miss Zukas’ Library Series Mysteries

These mysteries are sweet and a little old fashioned but amusing to me. I find the librarian herione in the mysteries to be fascinating.
#1 Miss Zukas and the Library Murders
#2 Miss Zukas and the Island Murders
#3 Miss Zukas and the Stroke of Death
#4 Miss Zukas and the Raven’s Dance
#5 Out of Circulation 1997
#6 Final Notice 1998
#7 Miss Zukas in Death’s Shadow
#8 Miss Zukas Shelves the Evidence
#9 Bookmarked to Die 2006
#10 Catalogue to Death
#11 Index to Murder 2008

Mexican Salad Salsa

1/2 C chopped tomatoes
1T (heaping) chopped red onion
1/4 C  cut fresh cilantro (measure before you cut)
1/4 tsp. chopped jalapeno

2T corn
1T small red beans

pinch sald
pinch pepper

Add the first 4 ingredients to a food processor and chop.
Stir in the corn and beans.
Season with salt and pepper.
Serve over your favorite greens with shredded cheese, croutons and top with ranch dressing.

Serves 1-2

This recipe is inspired by a salad I had on Valentine's Day at On the Border. It was delicious and I thought I'd try to replicate it. I got pretty close. It's so good I have had it for lunch many many times.

Buffalo Chicken Casserole

1 1/4 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch strips

1/3 cup buffalo wing sauce
6 cups frozen (thawed) southern-style hash brown potatoes
1 cup ranch or blue cheese dressing
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (2 oz)
1 can (10 oz) condensed cream of celery soup
1/2 cup corn flake crumbs
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup chopped green onions (3 to 4 medium)


1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13x9-inch (3-quart) baking dish with cooking spray.

2. In medium bowl, stir together chicken strips and wing sauce.

3. In large bowl, stir together potatoes, dressing, cheese and soup. Spoon into baking dish. Place chicken strips in single layer over potato mixture.

4. In small bowl, stir together crumbs and butter. Sprinkle in baking dish.

5. Cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes; uncover and bake 20 to 25 minutes longer or until potatoes are tender and juice of chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut. Sprinkle with green onions.

** Note: it is very important to thaw the hash browns. Since I didn't my first time I had to cook an extra 30 minutes.

Snowstorn February 2010

This was a huge stowstorm. We got almost 3 1/2 feet of snow. Jason and I are sore from all of the shoveling.  It took us many many hours to clear out the driveway and the sidewalks. Luckily we both did not have to work for the two days.

JJ dug the pups a little trail so they can run around in a circle. Maggie looks like a bobsled when she runs; bumping into the snow and running like crazy.  All we can see of Mary is tail, as usual. She's too small to be seen over the piles of snow but her tail is wagging high.

Daddy's little helper

Such a good helper. Shoveling....well jumping in the snow while daddy shoveled looks like great fun.

Apple Pie

Delicious! I can't stop making apple pies. After mom called me and told me about this Martha decoration for the top I had to try it. I looked high and low for a leaf cookie cutter but had no luck finding one. I thought I'd experiment with a hollyleaf. If turned looks pretty good, and tastes even better.

I use the  pie crust and the apple pie recipe from Betty Crocker's Cookbook. I make some adjustments to the pie recipe by doubling the cinnamon and nutmeg, adding a few shakes of ground ginger and cutting back a little bit on the sugar.

Alpaca Cable Scarf

I got this yarn over the summer in Cape May at the alpaca farm. I have been saving it for something special and I finally found it. this reversable cable pattern is perfect. I hope I will have enough yarn otherwise we will have to go to the beach for an emergency yarn purchase.

Peanut Brittle

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 Tbsp. butter
2 cups PLANTERS COCKTAIL Peanuts
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
4 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

SPRAY large baking sheet with cooking spray. Microwave sugar and corn syrup in large glass microwaveable bowl on HIGH 5 min. Stir in butter and peanuts. Microwave 3 to 4 min. or until pale golden brown. Stir in baking soda and vanilla. (Mixture will foam.) Spread onto prepared baking sheet. Cool completely. Break into pieces.




MICROWAVE chocolate in 1-cup glass measuring cup on HIGH 1 to 2 min. or until chocolate is melted when stirred. Add peanut butter; stir until melted. Dip half of each candy piece in chocolate mixture; scrape bottom against edge of cup to remove excess chocolate. Place on sheet of foil or waxed paper. Refrigerate 20 min. or until chocolate is firm.

Meatballs

1 beaten egg
1/4 C milk
3/4 cup Iltaian bread crumbs
1/4 C finely chopped onion
1/4 C fresh or 2T parsley
1 tsp. salt
1  tsp. black pepper
1  tsp. Italian seasonings
16 oz ground beef

Combine egg, milk. Stir in bread crumbs, milk, pepper, and Italian seasonings.
Add beef
Mix well and shape into balls.  I ususlly get 15 medium size meatballs.
Microwave them for 3-4 minutes.
Simmer in a pot of sauce for 30 minutes.

I Love Libraries - News, Issues, Legislation, Careers & Advocacy for America's Libraries

I Love Libraries - News, Issues, Legislation, Careers & Advocacy for America's Libraries