Raw Pasta

The family had pasta with parmesan cheese and garlic bread - hard to pass up being on a raw diet. I have one of those saladdaccio thingies that cuts zucchini into angel hair pasta, but I haven't had much luck making a satisfactory pasta sauce. The conventional way is to use sun-dried tomatoes and regular tomatoes, but it's always too thin and too bland, and the "pasta" is watery by itself.

I decided I needed pasta after smelling the family dinner. I sliced the zucchini into strands first and then let them sit in a dish lined with a paper towel to hopefully absorb some water while I made the sauce.

But I had no dried tomatoes. So I used two plum tomatoes, half an avocado and a small handful of sunflower seeds to thicken it up. and oregano, basil and some salted sun-dried tomato flakes in a spice jar (dh must have picked those up for his pizza?) and a dash of onion powder. Then I whizzed it in the blender. It turned out the color of sunflower seeds, but it was nice and thick, and it smelled like pasta sauce - the oregano and basil, no doubt.

I read that you can mix ground up sesame seeds and salt to make parmesan cheese, so I did that. It sure looks like parmesan cheese!

The result was perfect! Well, except for the color. The spices and salt, and the thickness of the sauce hit the spot. I will definitely do this again! (I posted the recipe on my blog so I won't lose it!) Next time I'll remember to add garlic!

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I made this again this evening, but instead of mixing the avocado in the blender with the tomatoes, I cut it by hand and added it after. I hoped that it would help keep the sauce more red. It did help, but as everything slowly mingled on the plate, it all turned brownish anyway. Here's a photo of tonight's pasta:

Cat Herding

We loved this ad -- the blog we found it on says this is what their life is like "on the bad days."

Court Rules Against Sanitizing Films

This is disappointing. Hollywood is determined to decide what the public should see, and the courts have ruled that it's illegal to edit objectionable content from movies. (article here) Never mind my right to see a movie without the garbage that the director feels I need to see.

"Audiences can now be assured that the films they buy or rent are the vision of the filmmakers who made them and not the arbitrary choices of a third-party editor."

They make it sound like audiences have been duped and getting edited movies unwittingly and against their will - but those who go out of their way to rent or purchase edited movies obviously don't want the entire "vision" of the filmmakers. What's so bad about letting consumers have a choice?

There is a Forbidden Word...

According to this article, "the Church of England is considering rejecting England's patron saint St George on the grounds that his image is too warlike and may offend Muslims."

James Kushiner at Mere Comments thinks the Scots should get rid of the St. Andrew's Cross, too (he was Scottish, after all...). And didn't Robin Hood go on the Crusades too? But perhaps he wasn't a good Englishman either.

"There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England." - Sir Winston Churchill

Look Closely...

Each of these photos is a close-up of something I've found in the yard. Make your best guesses at what they are; I'll post the full pictures in a couple days.

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Because they are interesting, if trivial

I saw this on Athena's blog, and then the Common Room, but I decided to do it after I saw it at Dewey's Tree House.

A - Accent: none
B - Breakfast Item: green smoothie
C - Chore you hate: (only one?) cooking
D - Dad's Name: Mr. B
E - Essential everyday item: Blender
F - Flavor ice cream: vanilla (with peanut butter on top, it's even better!) OR coconut (over the years, I've given this question waaaayyy too much thought!)
G - Gold or Silver?: gold
H - Happy Place: In front of my computer (pathetic, I know)
I - Insomnia: no, not once I actually go to bed
J - Job - Love or want to leave: Love!
K - Kids: Yes.
L - Living arrangements: 3 bedroom; no discernible decor
M - Mom's birthplace: My mom? Hawaii.
N - Number of houses you've lived in: 10-ish (do barracks count?)
O - Overnight hospital stays: three (all pregnancies, and I didn't sleep at all)
P - Phobia: Making phone calls
Q - Question: Where is everybody?
R - Religious Affiliation: Calvary Chapel
S - Siblings: Two sisters, one brother
T - Time you wake up: 9-ish
U - Unnatural hair colors you've had: None
V - Vegetable you refuse to eat: green bell peppers and slimy okra
W - Worst habit: Mr. B could probably answer that better than I could (but please don't ask him!)
X - X-rays you've had: dental.
Y - Yummy: Pre-raw - baked salmon, iced cake, sandwich cookies, dark chocolate, peanut butter, sweetened coconut flakes, just about anything vanilla
Currently - Thai coconut, banana/blueberry smoothie, coconut/pineapple smoothie, "raw" cashews, mangos
Z - Zealous about? (I changed another one!): CM's educational vision

Modern Paraphrase of the Declaration of Independence

I found this online last year, and it's still there:
MODERN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

Happy Fourth!

Swimming Lessons are Over

The boys did so well at their two-week swimming lessons that I signed them up for two more weeks - which is the biggest reason we haven't been blogging. But they just ended, so we should have some time again (we have our lives back! LOL!)

I just completed my paraphrase of Charlotte Mason's Volume 4, both parts! It's been a year-long project that was beginning to feel like would never be done! Now on to Volume 3 . . .

Miss Moana is just as spirited and feisty as ever. Her latest thing is pretending to be a dancer and then narrating everything she does in third person: "The dancer is reading a book." "The dancer is going for a drive." It brings back memories of another toddler, about fourteen years ago, who used to do the same thing, except he was usually a fireman: "the fireman is eating a sandwich." "The fireman is buckling his seatbelt." If he wasn't a fireman, he was Timmy Martin, with his stuffed collie as Lassie. And his little brother was always a cowboy, and he wouldn't eat anything until he had first checked to make sure that it was something that cowboys really would eat. He'd always ask, "Do cowboys eat this?" and I'd say yes most of the time, at least, if it was something I wanted him to like. For example, cowboys loved baked beans and peanut butter sandwiches, but they didn't eat ice cream because they didn't have freezers. At two, it never occurred to him to check my sources.

Miss Moana is looking through an old New Testament I bought her at a used book sale. I was curious to know what her impression is of the book, so I asked her, "What's that book about?" And she said, "it's a bear Jesus story." Okay, so she does connect it with Jesus. Sort of. So I asked her to tell me what the bear says in the book. She answered, "He gets mad and then he goes to bed." Hmmm. Two months ago, when she had roseola, I stayed home with her while the rest of the family went to church. She was cranky, and I was starving and irritable after being up all night with her, but she wouldn't let me put her down long enough to get anything to eat. I finally convinced her to get down long enough to make a smoothie, although she fussed every minute - and, wouldn't you know it, I found an insect leg in the blender after I made the smoothie and was pouring it out of the blender! I was so frustrated that I scooped her up and said, "I might as well go back to bed!" And we did, and she kept asking me, "Mommy, are you mad?" and I said, "Yes, I'm mad."

Well, she's never forgotten that. Now she associates being mad with going to bed. Any time one of her brothers is mad, she'll ask, "Are you mad?" and if they say yes, she'll ask if they're going to go to bed.

Fireworks

Books of the Last Two Months - May and June

Jack by George Sayer
A biography of C.S. Lewis by a friend and former pupil. It's very good, and detailed enough to be used for reference. It was obviously written by someone who knew and loved Lewis, but it doesn't try to gloss over the less flattering parts of his life--and it usually tells the whole story, which Surprised by Joy (not surprisingly) doesn't. My only criticism might be that it gets a little too psychoanalytical at times.


Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
A very good mystery (why hadn't I heard of this author before a couple months ago?). The mystery is actually about a historical figure [I have a great temptation to write "an historical"], and it's worked out (or should I say "detected"?) by a police detective and a historian. The conclusion they come to is controversial among historians, but the book is very good.


The Princess and the Goblins by George MacDonald
I love this book. I've read it many times and found it an excellent story, but as I get older I'm seeing greater depth in it.


The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald
The sequel to The Princess and the Goblins. It's not quite as good, but it's still very good. Some parts remind me of parts in Lewis's and Tolkien's works.


The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne
Disappointing. Milne may be a good writer, but his mystery doesn't compare to Miss Tey or Miss Sayers (or Sir Arthur C. Doyle or Chesterton).


A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey
An excellent mystery. Good characters, a good engaging plot, and a satisfying conclusion. I'm afraid to say too much and give away part of the story--perhaps you should just read it?


Magic by the Lake by Edward Eager
A reread; this is the sequel to Half Magic (which I talked about in my March list). Light, fun reading about four children that wish for magic and get a whole lakeful of it (not to mention the turtle).


The Wise Woman by George MacDonald
Princess Rosamond is completely spoiled by her royal parents. One day the Wise Woman comes and takes away the Princess to her home, and teaches her and makes her work and helps her work, until she becomes a true princess in character as she already was Princess by birth. (It's actually a good book, far better than my summary makes it sound. It shows well how God takes us, spoiled and selfish as we are, and makes us true children of the King.)


The Day Boy and the Night by George MacDonald
A good story with some interesting ideas. Upon a time there were two ladies in the house of Watho the witch who both gave birth to children. Watho took the children from their mothers at birth, and said they had died; but she brought them up in secret. The boy she named Photogen and the girl she named Nycteris, and neither knew that the other existed. Photogen she kept in daylight as much as possible, and did not allow him to see the night. He was taught all the manly arts, swordfighting and and hunting and the like. As long as it was light he knew no fear, and darkness he did not know.

Nycteris was kept in a cave that was completely dark save for one very dim lamp. Watho taught her nothing but music; but by her own devices Nycteris learned to read--for her eyes could see quite well in the dim light--and from the books she read she had a vague idea of a world outside. She sometimes wished for something else; she could not say what, except that she wanted more space. But somehow her lamp, and the light of her lamp, seemed connected with the idea of space, and of outside.

Eventually Nycteris does get out, and Photogen sees the night and learns what fear is, and--but I think that is enough to get you started. You wouldn't want me to tell you the whole story anyway--would you?--when MacDonald has already told it so much better.


The Iliad by Homer, translated by Robert Fagles
Good, but gorier than I remembered from the audiobook we listened to (years ago, admittedly). I've not read any other translations which I can compare to, but this one was generally recommended and it seemed pretty good. It's in free verse, or loose alliterative verse. The language is modern, easy to understand, and it moves along well. It also has helpful notes and pronunciation guides for all the names in the back.

I noticed, however, that a lot of the stories Rosemary Sutcliff has in Black Ships Before Troy, such as the coming of the Amazons and the death of Ajax, are not in the Iliad itself. The fall of Troy isn't even in the Iliad. Does anyone know where those stories are from?


Emma by Jane Austen
Very good. I was afraid that the middle might get dull, but it never did. Miss Austen's characters are excellent.