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Show The Emery County Review, Tuesday, August 12, 2008 AT YOUR LEISURE Casey’s Pockets Swell Book Reviews Swell Recipes C3 Entertainment SWELL RECIPES Sweet Tooth Helps Create Some Tasty Treats Kathy Ockey Cleveland resident, Melissa Jensen, is originally from Huntington. The daughter of Scott and Lisa Miller, she said she grew up as a tomboy, playing with her cousins on a farm and has some very good memories about those times. She and her husband, Jeremiah, are the parents of two little girls, Meliah, 4, and Tandy, 2. They are also expecting a baby boy. She said it is nice to know that it is a little boy so she can prepare with “boy” things after having two little girls. Melissa has two sisters and they all collect their new recipes and exchange them once a year. She said she loves to read recipe books and gets a lot of them from the local library. Melissa loves to try new recipes. She said about half of their meals consist of new recipes. Her husband is really good about trying new dishes and sometimes giving some helpful advice to make them better. They usually like what they try and sometimes add different seasonings to improve the taste. Melissa said, “Seasonings make all the difference and can really make a good recipe even better, “ Melissa said. She said she likes to cook and try new recipes because she “likes the end results.” Melissa said she has a sweet tooth and is contributing recipes for desserts that she really likes. These contain fruits and vegetables that people can get out of their gardens. CASEY’S POCKETS Apple Crisp 6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced 8 graham crackers (2 1/2 x 5 inches), coarsely chopped 3/4 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup all purpose flour 1/2 cup quick or old-fashioned oats 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon sugar 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place slices of apples in an 8 x 8 baking dish. Mix graham crackers, brown sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon and sugar in a bowl. Add melted butter and mix well. Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over apples. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake 45 minutes and uncover then bake an additional 5-10 minutes or until apples are tender. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Berry Delight Pound Cake 1 bag Snickers brand miniatures, chopped 1 5.1-ounce box instant vanilla pudding 2 cups whipped topping 1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced 2 16 ounce family size frozen pound cakes, thawed 1 cup blueberries Prepare pudding mix according to package directions. Set aside. Cut the two pound cakes into one inch squares. Assemble in a 9 x 13 baking pan. Start with a layer of half of the cake squares, top with a layer of chopped snickers, cover with a layer of pudding and top with the remaining cake squares. Spread the whipped topping over the top. Sprinkle with strawberries and blueberries. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Zucchini Cake 3 cups peeled, grated zucchini 2 cups sugar 1 1/4 cups oil 4 eggs 3 cups flour 1 teaspoon soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 cup chopped pecans (optional) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients in mixing bowl. Spread onto a 15 x 10 baking sheet (cookie sheet). Bake for 50-55 minutes. Cake is done when it pulls away from the edge of the pan. Frosting for Zucchini Cake 1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese, softened 1 pound (2 cups) powder sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup margarine or butter Mix well and spread over cake. Streusel Berry Tart 1 package (15 ounce) refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on package 1/2 cup pecan pieces chopped, divided 2 tablespoons sugar 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 cup strawberries, hulled and sliced 1 can raspberry pie filling Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly dust round pizza stone with flour. Gently unfold one pie crust in center of stone. Roll to Melissa Jensen and her daughters Tandy and Meliah. within 1 inch of edge using lightly floured roller. Sprinkle 1/4 cup pecans evenly over crust to within 1 1/2 inches of edge. Streusel: Combine remaining pecans, sugar and cinnamon and mix well. Cut remaining pie crust into 1/2 inch pieces (It is not necessary to unfold crust). Add to pecan mixture and mix well. Arrange strawberries in a single layer over chopped pecans on pie crust. Spoon pie filling over strawberries and sprinkle with streusel. Fold outer edge of pastry up over filling to form a 1 1/2 inch rim. Bake 30-35 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Cool slightly and serve warm with vanilla ice cream. SWELL BOOKS A Cavity Free Kid Spiderwick Chronicles Keeps Family Reading Together Casey Wood Kathy Ockey Have you ever watched cartoons or seen comic strips where the hero goes to the dentist’s office? Many times they end up having cavities, and when they return to the dentists office to get them fixed they are terrified. After the procedure the hero always ends up deciding that it wasn’t so bad. I’m not convinced. My dentist is Dr. Todd Huntington. I have been going to him for periodical cleanings and check-ups as long as I can remember, and low and behold, I have never had a cavity. Now you would think this would give me confidence when I visit the dentist’s office every six months or so, and you would think wrong. The dentist’s office is one of the most terrifying offices I go to, because each time I fear that I am going to get that dreaded first cavity. I go through the usual cleaning and flossing procedure with no problem, but when the doctor comes in and starts probing my teeth with the little ice-pick shaped rod to check for cavities, I think my heart stops. I have always asked “What’s the prognosis doc?” to which he has responded “We’re good.” I shudder when I think of the day when I will receive a different answer. Now you would expect that those around me would be happy for me, and for my lack of dental drilling, but it is not so. I think only Dr. Todd and I are happy to know I don’t have a cavity. Each time I come home and report to my father and sister that my teeth are hole free it seems to ruin their day. Where’s the love in my family? I don’t know, but if you find it, give me a call. Apart from my fear of holey teeth I love the dentist’s office. I believe I am the longest running “Cavity Free Kid.” Cavity Free Kids are the children who come into the office and leave without cavities. They receive a prize from Dr. Huntington, along with getting their picture put on a cork board with all the other Cavity Free Kids. I stopped getting prizes a couple visits back, but I still make sure that when I leave my picture is on that cork board next to Walker Woolsey, the Moss children, or Dr. Todd’s own kids. I fear it’s only a matter of time until my luck runs out, and my family gets their wish. So, if the next time you go to the dentist’s office you hear some squealing, and possibly crying in the next room, take a peek in and you may see me in the dentist’s chair, having my teeth drilled, claiming I can feel it through the anesthetic. If that happens, make sure you’re cavity free, so somebody older than 16 can be on the wall next to Walker, the Moss children, and Dr. Todd’s own kids. Green River residents John and Allisha Hughes and their family, have spent the last few months reading The Spiderwick Chronicles (Books 1-5) by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. The book chronicle the adventures of two brothers and a big bossy sister, who, with their mom, move into their aunt’s old house. The children find out there are many hidden secrets and learn a lot about their Great Uncle Arthur. They also discover that there were really things like trolls and goblins, but they disappeared many, many years ago. These books grabbed the interest of this family from the very beginning, and they couldn’t wait to read each night. John is a school teacher and said reading as a family is a fun thing to do and gives the children an opportunity to learn to love reading. Ian, 7, said he liked the books but he loves to play the outfield in baseball. Morgan, 5, said it was fun to snuggle on a lap while reading. Zander, 3, liked reading with mom and dad, and the youngest, 1-yearold Micah, likes to eat toast while they read. The parents promised their children they would buy the movie when it came out, and they are excited because the authors just released a new series, Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles and the family is looking forward to starting the next adventures of the boys and their sister. This family recommends this exciting series of books and encourages everyone to read them as a family and find out how enjoyable and fun it can be. The Hughes family of Green River recommend The Spiderwick Chronicles (and reading them together). SCANNING THE BOOKSHELF For Ann Patchett, the Best Part of the Process is Not the Writing Wendy Fry When author Ann Patchett starts a new novel, she’s as likely to be putting on rubber gloves as sitting down at her keyboard. While most of us grumble at the thought of cleaning the kitchen, the highly respected novelist said she revels in household chores as an opportunity to invent new characters and plot lines. “I am an amazing housewife,” said Patchett. “I’m married to a doctor who comes home at 7 p.m. and I make the house perfect for him. I make a big dinner, scrub the floors and even iron his handkerchiefs.” You might say Patchett, winner of the PEN/Faulkner award for the best-selling “Bel Canto,” defies several of the common stereotypes about writers. She doesn’t live in squalor, drink too much or scribble feverishly in notebooks. “The only thing interesting about my process is I write the whole book in my head before I ever pick up a pen,” Patchett said. “While I’m emptying the dishwasher, or making the bed, I’ve got these complicated storylines and characters developing in my head.” Fortunately for her husband, Patchett is currently working in the beginning stages for her next novel so her house is spotless. “I’m just starting; I’m only doing research but the book might have something to do with malaria,” she said. “I’m reading a book about bug bites because I’m very interested in stings right now.” The imaginative part of the writing process is sheer bliss for her, Patchett said, before the pen or computer complicate things. “It’s a very happy time, like staring into a fog. I do not write my way through it. I really work it out in my head.” When forced to finally sit down at her computer, the fun stops. “That part, for me, is really unpleasant,” she said. “I’m so happy making it up and I’m so unhappy writing it down.” Much like “Bel Canto,” her last novel, “Run” is a book that deals with time, although in a compressed rather than expanded fashion. “ `Bel Canto’ is about the suspension of time,” Patchett said. “People give away their watches and the reader doesn’t know if they’ve been there for four hours or five years.” In “Run,” except for a flashback in the beginning (and one brief glimpse into the future at the end), the entire narrative takes place in 24 hours. In “Run,” recently published in paperback, one or another of the characters is always awake, creating a continuous 24-hour account of a family in crisis. The central character, Bernard Doyle, is forced to question his ambition and his values when an argument with his son leads to a car accident and the dramatic intervention of a stranger. Her unselfish act leads to fundamental, unexpected changes in the family’s life. “The book is about how easy it is to hold certain political ideals, but what happens when we’re asked to put them into action,” Patchett said. “What happens when the politics come into your family?” Patchett attended Sarah Lawrence College and the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop. She then won a residential fellowship to the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Mass., where she wrote her first novel, “The Patron Saint of Liars.” Patchett also did a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, but said she relied very loosely on her background for the setting of the novel in Boston. “I usually write about places that I have some connection to, but not a huge connection,” said Patchett, who lives with her husband in Nashville, Tenn. “I would never set a novel in Nashville because I would become paralyzed by familiarity and I would be too worried about getting everything right.” This seems almost impossible to believe. Her characters in “Run” trudged through the streets of Boston, from impoverished neighborhoods to affluent ones, which she describes with uncanny accuracy. “I’m a professional imaginer,” Patchett said. “That’s my job to make stuff up and to make you believe that I didn’t make it up.” (Copyright 2008 Creators Syndicate, Inc.) |
