Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

I joined the conversation late last night, but it was interesting.

It seems that we all enjoyed the book though a few of us found Ms. Kingsolver to be a tad bit (okay, a lot bit) self-righteous in her bold endeavor to live off the land and scold those of us who oh, drive cars to the local market and eat food.  Sorry - I'm not a farmer, I'm a consumer.

We all agree though that her idea is a good one and that there are many ways that we can take small to large steps that can translate into huge (and positive) changes in our lives and the lives of the food we consume, like:
Buy local products from local stores
Visit farmers markets regularly and buy fresh produce and products
Go herbal when possible
Have a small garden
Buy from friends and family who have connections to locally grown items (eggs, vegetables, meat)
Donate money to organizations like Heifer International (heifer.org) to provide livelihoods for peoples in remote and often sad places of the world.
Be a stay at home mom and have no life.  Then, you don't have to drive your car and kill the environment.

A few other items that were discussed last night:
herb club sjherbclub@yahoogroups.com;

holistic club/group in the neighborhood. Amy Jones is a doula and herbalist and she's the moderator. Amy Jones thebirthsource@gmail.com;

a link to the holistic conference
http://www.holisticldsliving.com/

http://www.heifer/. org/ (buy cows for poor countries)
http://www.kiva/. org/  (micro-lending)

The Help

Thank you all who came to book club this month! As I said in the email, I adored The Help. It was recommended to me and right after I read it I wanted us to read it as a book club, and apparently someone else did too because it was thrown into the mix.

If you haven't read it, I would suggest you do so. The story follows the lives of several different women in the 1960s, predominantly young white women and the African-American (let's be PC here) women who are employed as their maids (hence the name of the book "The Help.") The main character, Skeeter, writes a book about the lives of these maids, and in doing so ends her relationship (I didn't like him anyways) and her friendship with her childhood best friend (the uppity white woman.)

The racial issues in the book brought out great discussion for our little book club. I think we can all agree that racism is blatantly wrong, but can all admit to prejudging others or possibly even practicing reverse racism. It was interesting that even in our time we were still able to discuss people in our lives who were or are racist, and the effect that has had on us. We also discussed how people generally tend to form social groups based on similarities, like we in book club like reading, talking over each other and probably look down on people who don't read!

To summarize book club this month, the majority liked the book, I made homemade cookies that were edible, racism is wrong, although still exists and most of us have had some experience with it, Diana's last name is German, the only STD you can get from a toilet seat is crabs and Robyn now knows what crabs are, things made in China are bad, and free Tibet. I look forward to seeing you all next month!

Mockingjay

The third book, Mockingjay, in The Hunger Games series is on pre-sale at Amazon for $8.50. I know a lot of you loved these books.

We're really just a bunch of foodies....

It seems that at most of our BC meetings, we always end up talking about things other than the book we've read.

We always read the book, and talk about it at some point, but lately our book club seems to be a bit more cathartic and social in nature.  I'm not sure about the rest of you girls, but I look forward to our one evening a month all month long.  It's the one night - the few hours - where I get to socialize with a bunch of women who are my friends, who are like me, and who like me.

Ahhh....group hug.

That being said - we always seem to end up talking about food.  Oh, how I love to eat really good food.

We all love Guy Fieri and his DDD and in light of our food addictions, we've started sending lists around of some of our local favorite places to dine.

For the sake of posterity, here they are.

Rika:
Cafe Trio
Porcupine Pub
Market Street
PF Changs
Thaifoon
Blue Plate

Makayla:
1- Takashi
2- Tsunami
3- Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana
4- San Gelato
5- Rocky Mountain Chocolate
6-Hofbrauhaus-www.hofbrauhauslasvegas.com
7- The Corner Office-thecornerofficedenver.com
8- Rockin' Baja Lobster-www.rockinbaja.com
9- Isabella's Catering for catered events only

Annie:
Rio Grande (this is my absolute most favorite place to eat....ever)
Red Iguana
Neils FIsh Place in Draper (Good chicken fingers and fantastic fries)
Settebello Pizzeria
Lone Star Taqueria
Downtown Philly
Salt Lake BBQ
Q for U (BBQ in WVC - very authentic and yummy)
Litzas Pizza
Hires
Red Butte Cafe (Foothill)
Desert Edge pub/brewery (Trolley Square)
Robintinos
In and Out
Smashburger
So Cupcake
Mini's Cupcakes
Beyond Glaze

Angela:
Mazzas (meditteranean and middle eastern) http://www.mazzacaf e.com/
Fresco
India House in Midvale (80th south and state?)
The Original Pancake House in the sugarhouse area.

Chocolate Cake

Super Duper Yummy Crock Pot Chocolate Cake
(Courtesy of CJane)

1 package chocolate cake mix

1 container of sour cream (8 oz)
1 cup chocolate morsels
1 cup water
4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 package instant chocolate pudding mix


spray crock pot with nonstick cooking spray.
mix cake mix, sour cream, chocolate morsels, water, egss, oil
and pudding mix in a bowl by hand.
pour into crock pot.

cover and cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours
 
NOTE:  I've made this cake a couple of times.  It was best with little dove dark chcolate squares and chocolate chips because they got all ooey and gooey.  I also recommend watching it closely and "undercooking" it.  I've got a fast, hot crock pot and on low, it cooked beautifully in about 3.5 hours.

February Meeting

Thanks everyone that could come tonight to "discuss" The Mysterious Benedict Society.  Although we really just chatted and ate delicious chocolate cake (Annie can you post the recipe!?) I wanted to say that I really did like this book.  I thought it was creative and cute and I can't wait until my boys are older because this is the type of book I can see reading aloud to them chapter by chapter at bedtime.  I've got the 2nd book on hold at the library and can't wait to read that one, either.  Thanks Melinda for bringing it to the Christmas party so that we could read it!

Upcoming:
Next month is discussing "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett at Michele's house on March 25th, and then we're discussing "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver at Rika's house on April 22nd. Makayla volunteered to host for May 27th but the book is still being decided. Wow, are we really planned this far in advance?!

Thanks again to all who came tonight!

Another Bookclub baby

Even though most of you have already met him ... and he's going on 5 months old .... thought I'd introduce you to MY bookclub baby ..

Grahm Ferrol Singleton ... August 18th, 2009

Now we just need London and Amelia ... right?

New Year - New books

Yeah - 2010 is just around the corner. Another great year for book club I'm sure.

In an attempt to be on the ball, for those of you that look at the blog, here are the proposed dates for 2010 - and books when applicable, for the first few months anyway.

January 28 - Annie's House
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

February 25 - Erin's House
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

March 25 - Michele's House
The Help by Kathryn Stockett

April 22
May 27
June 24
July 22
August 26
September 23
October 28
November 18 (The week before Thanksgiving)
December 16 (The week before Christmas)

Mark your calendars now and we'll plan to see you at BC.

Oh, Merry Christmas, too.

End of the year

We have no plan for the end if the year. Well we have a plan, we just don't have a date or a host.

A book and cookie exchange however will take place in December. Send your suggestions to Annie.


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November and December

November mtg:
angelas house
November 19
Catching Fire

December mtg:
Location tbd
December 10
Book and cookie exchange
Come to talk about one of your favorite books of the year.


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