January 2021: Into the woods…and home before dark

It doesn’t entirely feel like a fresh new year – 2020 is still lingering – but here it is, somehow nearly February.

What We’ve Read So Far

The kiddo has fallen head over heels for Harriet Hamsterbone, a.k.a. Ursula Vernon’s Hamster Princess series (Harriet the Invincible, Mice and Magic, Ratpunzel, Giant Trouble, and Whiskerella). We have borrowed both the print and audiobooks of all of them from the library (except the print copy of Harriet the Invincible, which we own), and she listens to them constantly. I love them too – Harriet is a badass with a wry sense of humor, and these twisted fairy tales are some of my favorite versions. The kiddo also loves Bethan Woollvin’s picture book versions of Rapunzel, Little Red, and Hansel & Gretel, as well as Bo the Brave. We might even kick off our brand-new Mother/Daughter Book Club with Woollvin’s Hansel & Gretel.

Here are some other picture books we’ve read and liked lately:

• Just A Minute and Just in Case by Yuyi Morales
• We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom and Michaela Goade (Caldecott winner!)
• What We’ll Build by Oliver Jeffers
• Wordplay by Adam Lehrhaupt
• Your House, My House by Marianne Dubuc
• Pacho Nacho by Silvia Lopez
• Federico and the Wolf by Rebecca J. Gomez and Elisa Chavarri
• Sootypaws by Maggie Rudy (thank you, Betsy Bird!)
• The Cool Bean and The Couch Potato by Jory John and Bob Shea
• When We Are Kind by Monique Gray Smith

She’s also been really into The Magic School Bus, both the books by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen and the late ’90s TV show (Lily Tomlin is Ms. Frizzle’s voice). She’s learning a lot about various topics (dinosaurs, rocks, beehives) and also picking up on the terrible puns. And we discovered the Zoey & Sassafras series by Asia Citro as well (science + magic = awesome).

As for my own reading, my top recommendations for this month include:

Fiction: Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia, How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang, The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein (YA), and The Sea in Winter by Christine Day (MG)

Nonfiction: The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri, You Never Forget Your First by Alexis Coe, Can’t Even by Anne Helen Petersen, and Save the Cat! Writes A Novel by Jessica Brody

What We’ve Made (Edible)

• Thai red curry with tofu and snow peas from Dinner by Melissa Clark: this was fantastic, and I will make it again, but whoa was it spicy! She calls for 3 Tbsp of Thai red curry paste, and I used 1 1/2 Tbsp, and it was still so, so hot. (Granted, none of the adults in the house have much of a spice tolerance, but still…maybe it was supposed to be tsp and not Tbsp?)
• Potato samosas: I tried to use a dough recipe I found online, and it was awful to work with, so I went back to using pie dough. Need to check out an Indian cookbook soon to get some reliable recipes.
• Cheese and tofu lasagna
• Quiche with cheese and shallots
• Enchiladas with homemade corn tortillas: very good, as usual, even though I forgot to put bouillon or bay leaves in the water while I was cooking the chicken.
• Applesauce, twice (we got a bag of disappointingly mushy apples, but they made great sauce!)
• English muffin toasting bread and Vermont whole wheat oatmeal honey bread (King Arthur Flour)
• Cinnamon swirl raisin bread (America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook)
• Rye bread (Pastry Love)
• Rugelach: these came out differently than when I made them before – maybe I did an egg wash before? Maybe I used Deb Perelman’s recipe instead of Joanne Chang’s? Still tasty but not exceptional. I used strawberry jam, pecans, and walnuts for the filling.
• Mocha Chip cookies from Pastry Love were very, very good.
• Apple Vanilla pound cake from Flour was just okay. I’d make Dorie Greenspan’s visiting cake instead next time.
• Morning buns: croissant dough recipe from Flour, morning bun recipe from my friend Catherine. The process takes three days but they are so good.
• “Chocolate Pudding Now” and “Chocolate Cherry Biscotti” from Rage Baking. The pudding was perfect (Ben made it), and the biscotti turned out well, though I had to add an extra egg to make the dough come together (and I added pistachios, and skipped the chocolate drizzle – they’re plenty chocolatey).

What We’ve Made (Not Edible)

• Orange You Glad We Made This Bird Feeder? (Tinkergarten)
• Nature Faces (Playful Invitations)
• Dot Cards for number/quantity recognition (Erikson Institute Early Math Collaborative)
• Lots of drawings, paintings, and writing practice
• Baby quilt for a friend (finished!)

Where We’ve Been

Not much of anywhere (pandemic), except for playgrounds and hikes – but we’ve been on a lot of great hikes! The Emily Dickinson trail, Bear Mountain, Amethyst Brook Conservation Area, Wentworth Conservation Area, Howard Garis trail, Skinner State Park, and probably a couple others I’m forgetting.