Backwoods Babble

Lighting Their Fires: How Parents and Teachers Can Raise Extraordinary Kids in a Mixed-up, Muddled-up, Shook-up World by Rafe Esquith My rating: 5 of 5 stars I'm a softie when it comes to inspirational stories for teachers as I am studying to be one. I was given this book by a random stranger on a plane, so how could I give it any less than five stars!? That aside, it is a wonderful book, full of ideas that are easily within the reach of the average person. This is not a go out and buy this product that will make it all better kind of solution, but rather a philosophy of education that makes sense. The arts are usually one of the first programs to go in these days of tight budgets and hard decisions, but Rafe and other research is showing that adding the arts back into the curriculum is one of the best and least cost-effective ways to boost those test scores that we have become increasingly fixated on. Plus, its fun to have more creative lessons, for the teachers AND the s...

French Taste by Laura Calder My rating: 5 of 5 stars I love Laura Calder's show on the cooking channel. It's quirky, she is too, and when you read this cookbook it sounds EXACTLY like her. I am very intimidated by French cooking, but there is something about Laura's style that makes it seems less scary and tasty enough that I must try it now. There are a few recipes that I think I won't ever eat (there is something about gelled fat that while it may be tasty has a consistency issue that I do not find appealing), but overall I wanted to start at the beginning and just keep cooking. The pictures in the book are amazing as photos in cookbooks should be, I think. I love tasty looking things and while I realize that mine will not necessarily look that good, they may someday TASTE that good and that makes all the difference. I cannot wait to play with more of her recipes this summer! Yum! Definitely a must-have as far as I am concerned. It's not overly expensiv...

Urban Pantry: Tips and Recipes for a Thrifty, Sustainable and Seasonal Kitchen by Amy Pennington My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a great little book, with some great recipes, tips and tricks on how to be a little thriftier and yet have an amazing tasty pantry year round! It is definitely going to be one that I keep around forever. The author even provides a sample list of what to keep around in your pantry, fridge, etc and includes tips on storage (which I always need reminding of). Since I have gone gluten free, I find that I am so much happier (and healthier) making my own food and this is just another way to encourage me to do so. This summer, there will be canning, lots of canning as I work to preserve some of the tasties of summer for the cold, dark winter. Pennington has some wonderful tips on that as well, all in smaller quantities so you aren't left with like a ridiculous supply of something you may or may love later on (of course, you can always gift home preser...

So, I've been away awhile. I've been hiding in libraries surrounded by text books and rarely getting out. Such is the life of a college student. I did, however, manage to get out about a month ago to see the tulips in Skagit Valley. Totally worth the effort and the crowds. I am reviewing this free site below for a class I am taking and wanted to see how well it worked. Might as well throw some tulip pics in for fun! =) To view this photo slideshow you need to have Flash Player 9 or newer installed and JavaScript enabled. PhotoSnack is a flash slideshow maker especially designed to output embeddable photo slideshow galleries.