So nice of you to wear your monster mask for today’s post. Like me, you’re probably already feeling that Fall chill in the air, especially at night. The leaves will start turning in the blink of your good eye, the winds will howl, and come October, you’ll have an actual excuse to wear your green scaly costume in public. 🙂
This mixed bag of 15 rhymes is perfect for munchkins and short grown-ups who like their scariness served up with a good side of humor. A group of trick-or-treaters and iconic Halloween regulars (skeletons, mummies, ghouls, witches, black cats, monsters) are all out on the prowl for a spooktacularly good time. We follow them to a dark alley, a graveyard, a Halloween party, and into the homes of mummies and vampires. One of my favorite poems, “Mummy Dearest,” mentions eerie edibles:
She fixes my breakfast: worms on toast.
I like the juicy ones the most.
She tears my clothes all to shreds.
(On the bus, it sure turns heads.)
She packs me spider eggs for lunch.
Mmm . . . the way they snap and crunch!
The Alphabet Soup table is all set to welcome story-scribbler, picture-squiggler, fun-socks-wearer Ben Clanton, whose second self-illustrated picture book, The Table SetsItself(Walker BFYR, 2013), is officially hitting shelves today! WooHoo!
Until I read this charming, whimsical story, I thought I was the only one who had a meaningful relationship with cutlery. I loved reading about how Izzy and her friends Dish, Fork, Knife, Spoon, Cup, and Napkin finally get the chance to set the table themselves. But because they soon tire of being in the same spots day after day, they decide to switch places. Uh-oh.
Is this front endpaper cool or what?
This leads to a few small disasters and a big ooh-la-la adventure for the runaway Dish and Spoon, whose absence turns Izzy into a complete mess because no other plate or spoon will do. How will she get them to return to the table? Generous sprinkles of punny jokes and visual humor (I bet you never knew a cup could lift a cow) make for a rollicking read aloud, and did I mention macaroni and cheese is instrumental in setting things right again?
Please help yourself to some homemade Blueberry Slump.
Happy Independence Day!
Funny, I hadn’t planned on slump — but this sometimes happens when your husband’s no slouch.
The other day, I jotted down a grocery list for Len. Nothing out of the ordinary:
bananas
blueberries
2 vine-ripened tomatoes
cucumber
2 mangoes
I usually don’t specify an amount for the blueberries cause it’s always the same — a pint basket for my morning cereal.
Sure, my penmanship is nothing to brag about.
Still.
I got oodles and oodles of blueberries. A big bag, nay, an avalanche of blueberries. He couldn’t understand why I’d want “6” blueberries. So he bought 6 quarts.
Maybe he thought I was planning to bake 6 giant pies for 6 starving yeti?!
Me: !!!?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*&*#@(#!!!!
He showed me the list. I’d written “blueberries,” plain as day. So what if the “b” was slightly separated from the rest of the word? I’m one of those people who writes in “print-script.” I never connect all my letters in strict cursive form. He knows this. Yet he still thought my “b” was a “6.”
6 lueberries
Me:6 lueberries? 6 lueberries?!
Oy. (Might I add that the stem on my “b” was straight up, not curved to the right?)
He was looking more yeti-like with each passing second.
Only one thing to do: make blueberry pancakes and blueberry muffins and blueberry bread and blueberry slump.
No, I’m not complaining. After all, he did fill the order. When it comes to grocery shopping, Len’s no slouch. Good thing it wasn’t watermelons. 😀
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NEW ENGLAND BLUEBERRY SLUMP (makes b 6 servings)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Blueberry Mixture
3 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Crust
1 cup sifted flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter, melted
Half and half, cream, or vanilla ice cream, as desired
1. Combine blueberry mixture ingredients in 1-1/2 quart casserole. Cover and bake in hot oven (400 degrees F) for 15 minutes. Uncover and stir well.
2. While berries are heating, prepare crust. Sift together flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in shortening with pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add milk and stir only enough to moisten dry ingredients. Drop by small spoonfuls onto blueberry mixture, covering fruit completely. Drizzle butter over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
3. Return to hot oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until topping is cooked and browned. Serve warm with half and half, cream, or vanilla ice cream.
4. After you’ve had your fill, hug your resident yeti and practice your penmanship.
(Adapted from The Old Fashioned Cookbook by Jan McBride Carlton, Weathervane Books, 1975.)
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Time to sign off for my annual summer blog break. I plan to read, write, dawdle, eat, rest, tidy up, think, walk, organize, explore, landscape, play the piano, and (gasp!) migrate all my data from my ancient PC desktop to a new iMac (any tips?).
Have a bang-up 4th of July — partying, parading, and picnicking!!
Jama's Alphabet Soup 