[musings + recipes] two yummy wizard of oz treats

October 31, 2023October 29, 2023 ~ jama ~ 22 Comments

“A heart is shown not by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.” — The Wizard of Oz

Oh, we’re off to see the Wizard — the wonderful Wizard of Oz!

Hello, my pretties! Let’s fly over the rainbow and spend some time with Dorothy, Toto, Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, adorable munchkins, a green witch, flying monkeys, ruby slippers, a yellow brick road and a dazzling Emerald City!

*Alphabet Soup munchkins construct their own Emerald City.*

If the enduring popularity of this beloved American fairy tale has taught us anything at all, it’s that no matter how much things may change, deep down we’ll always yearn for a place where the dreams we dare to dream really do come true. 🙂

I’ve been on a “Wizard of Oz” kick lately — rewatched the movie and reread the book a couple of times, read several L. Frank Baum biographies, even scored two cute Wizard of Oz cookbooks — one inspired by the iconic 1939 film starring Judy Garland, the other based on Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, first published in 1900 with illustrations by W.W. Denslow. It was fun to revisit this timeless classic via the lens of food, and to note how the movie differs from the book.

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[bouncy review] Pass the Baby by Susanna Reich and Raúl Colón

October 27, 2023October 26, 2023 ~ jama ~ 15 Comments

Since I grew up with a large extended family, loud talky meals were par for the course. Along with lots of tasty food, my aunties served up a fair share of juicy gossip and heaps of hilarity whenever we got together.

My cousins and I knew the drill. If you were a baby or toddler, you could expect to be doted upon — hugged, held, kissed or tickled. An uncle might toss you up in the air, and if you weren’t careful, you could even get your cheeks pinched.

All part of happy family gatherings, where the youngest is usually the center of attention. And why not? Who doesn’t love a wriggly, giggly, drooly, pint-sized bundle of fun?

In Pass the Baby by Susanna Reich and Raúl Colón (Neal Porter Books, 2023), we’re invited to join a lively multiethnic blended family as they set the table, prepare the food, enjoy their meal, clean up the mess, and then collapse from exhaustion — all while playing with, feeding and entertaining the baby, as she’s passed from lap to lap.

Reich’s rollicking rhyming text pulls us right into the action from the get-go, filling us with excitement and anticipation as we sense Baby will be the star of the show.

Family dinner, set the table,
forks and spoons and napkins too.
Knives and plates and water glasses,
flowers, candles, bright and new.
Wait a minute, where's the baby?
Someone's playing peekaboo!

As the guests gather round and help with finishing touches, hungry Baby fusses a little. So begins her journey around the table, as she’s cuddled by different family members. An ebullient refrain underscores everyone’s uproarious delight:

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Madison Safer: into the woods

October 24, 2023October 22, 2023 ~ jama ~ 3 Comments

When Madison Safer was a child, she could often be found outdoors exploring the small worlds found under rocks in her back yard.

When her family moved to a small town in New Hampshire, she was delighted by the tall pine trees and ferns growing everywhere. Since it was hard to capture what she saw in photographs, she used watercolors to keep a record of what was around her.

*New Hampshire based artist Madison Safer.*

And so it began – painting as a study tool – diagrams and sketches of bugs, mushrooms, flowers and plants. While studying at the Montserrat College of Art, she became interested in the narrative style of illustration. This enabled her to not only replicate natural phenomenon, but to convey the sensations of what it was like to be in the woods on the page.

Since then, she has used illustration as a teaching practice for herself as well as a way of telling hidden stories of what really happens in the forest when humans are not looking.

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lefties rule!

October 20, 2023October 19, 2023 ~ jama ~ 28 Comments

“I may be left-handed, but I am always right.” ~ Anonymous

*Hand Cookies by Ree Drummond/Food Network.*

What do Paul McCartney, Julia Roberts and Prince William have in common?

Well, Paul is music royalty,

Julia is Hollywood royalty,

and Prince William is genuine-for-real British royalty (*swoons*):

Aside from that, they’re all lefties. 🙂

Perhaps southpaws are the true blue bloods of the world, the chosen few who comprise about 10% of the population. They are thought to be creative, imaginative, artistic, holistic and musical — traits associated with the right hemisphere of the brain, which is also responsible for left-hand control.

What’s it like being a lefty in a right-handed world? In the following poem, Virginia based poet Gregory Orr describes an early childhood challenge.

ODE TO LEFT-HANDEDNESS
by Gregory Orr

I sat at my kindergarten desk,
Surrounded by others,
Either cheerful
Or bored, who were
Cutting
The requisite circles
With ease,
Or slicing down
Straight, penciled lines
As the teacher directed.

I did my dutiful best,
But the scissors
Hurt my fingers
In a minor,
Distracting way,
And I was too young
To realize the handle
Was biased
For a right-hand child,
So all I could do
Was cut in clumsy zigzags
And feel like a fool.

Staring hard at the blades,
I tried to will them
To obey,
Who couldn’t conceive
I was being freed
That day
By those little silver wings
Of a bird
Intent on the erratic,
Authentic pattern
Of its own flight
Through a sky of colored paper.

~ from The Last Love Poem I Will Ever Write (W.W. Norton & Co., 2019).

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[srsly hppy review] ZigZag by Julie Paschkis

October 17, 2023October 14, 2023 ~ jama ~ 14 Comments

#64 in an ongoing series of posts celebrating the alphabet

Hungry? Roll these words around in your mouth: sip, slurp, sliver, snap!

Pretty tasty, no?

What’s that? You want more? Okay, crunch on these: crack, creak, clack!

Ahhhhh. I can tell by that big smile on your face that you’re probably a fellow word connoisseur. Hearing them, saying them, reading them, writing them, and now, eating them — words, whether short, long or in-between, are the ultimate feast.

In Julie Paschkis’s Zigzag (Enchanted Lion Press, 2023) — a zippy, juicy, jazzy hullabaloo of a picture book — we meet a voracious crocodile who “liked to taste words.” He had quite the discerning palate, too.

Harmonica tasted like honey.

Grackle crackled and was crunchy.

Flinch was sharp and bitter.

Bulb had a thick, purple taste.

All was peachy until the day Zigzag vigorously danced with his friends Kit and Kat. They swung their tails and shook their tambourines. Because tambourine just happened to be especially delicious (“like an orange, but more mysterious”), Zigzag forgot himself. Gulp! He accidentally swallowed the word with all of its vowels!

All that was left in Zigzag’s mouth was tmbrn. Talk about tasteless. But that was the least of his problems. Other foods didn’t taste good either: where was the roll-in-your-mouth flavor of a pr or a pch or grps?

Blch.