author recipes

♥ an apple cake chat with julie paschkis ♥

~ jama ~ 54 Comments

Open the pages of Julie Paschkis’s charming new picture book, Apple Cake (Harcourt, 2012), and you’ll instantly fall in love.

That’s because Julie’s “Recipe for Love” contains the perfect ingredients: a dashing, ardent suitor named Alfonso, a beautiful, kind and brilliant bookworm named Ida, a sprinkling of magic, flights of fancy, and an irresistibly delicious made-from-the-heart cake.

Alfonso loves Ida but she never notices him despite his flamboyant bouquets and serenades:

So clever Alfonso makes Ida a special cake using butter from the sun, sugar scraped from a cloud, an egg from the highest tippy top nest, flour stars, and salt ladled from the sea. He stirs the batter by diving into the bowl himself, adds three wishes, and cooks the cake over fiery dragon’s breath. And Ida — nose-always-in-a-book Ida — smells the apple cake, takes a peek and finally looks at Alfonso!

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melissa iwai and denis markell dish on hush, little monster

~ jama ~ 24 Comments
Melissa, Jamie, and Denis

Don’t you just love it when one good thing leads to another?

I’ve been a big Melissa Iwai fan for awhile now. How could I not love someone who illustrates a book about a quest for pancakes and then follows up with a self-illustrated title about soup? In addition to her writing, drawing and painting chops, this girl can cook! Just check out The Hungry Artist, where Melissa regularly creates tasty, healthy magic in the kitchen (please adopt me). 🙂

If you’ve seen Melissa’s delightful Soup Day (Henry Holt, 2010), you know it was inspired by the time she spent cooking with her son Jamie. Apparently, we can also thank Jamie for her latest book, Hush, Little Monster (Little, Simon, 2012), which was written by her husband Denis Markell. Because Jamie had trouble sleeping when he was a wee babe, Denis, an award-winning Broadway musical and comedy writer, sang “Hush, Little Baby” to him over and over every. single. night.

Possibly going insane getting really tired of mockingbirds, diamond rings and looking glasses, one night Denis thought about doing a monsterish riff on this traditional lullaby.

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friday feast: a three-course meal from the poetry friday anthology

~ jama ~ 45 Comments
We love you, Sylvia and Janet, the best poetry evangelists on the planet!

Happy Poetry Friday!

Can’t think of three other words, aside from, “Time to Eat!”, that fill me with as much joy and anticipation. 🙂

Poetry Friday has been a part of Alphabet Soup ever since I first came online in 2007. I didn’t know many other bloggers then, but I knew a good thing when I saw it: a progressive party where a mixed platter of poems, reviews, and musings were served up in friendly fashion by a group of enthusiastic word lovers. Most of them were uncommonly good looking and unfailingly generous and supportive. It’s still the best way to end a work week, take a break for a little special something, refresh, rejuvenate and connect!

A couple of months ago, I was thrilled to hear Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong were publishing The Poetry Friday Anthology (Pomelo Books, 2012), which would take this same concept into the K-5 classroom, turbo-charging it with Common Core curriculum support. As a fan of their PoetryTagTime Trio, I assumed this would also be an eAnthology. Well, it is, but it’s also a gorgeous, chunky paperback containing 218 previously unpublished poems by 75 of America’s finest contemporary children’s poets — some are Poetry Friday regulars, some have been Poetry Potluck guests, and a few others I was excited to meet on the page for the first time. Continue reading →

annette simon on robot zombie frankenstein (and a giveaway)!

~ jama ~ 19 Comments

◄ RECIPE FOR FUN ►

You will need:

1 spritely, insanely creative author/illustrator named Annette Simon (pictured above)

1 shortish purple-y robot with three blue chest buttons
1 taller green robot with orange necktie and blue chest lines

cool endpapers!

a full smorgasbord of colorful, eye-popping geometric shapes
a generous measure of high voltage suspense
a predilection for monsters, the walking dead, pirates, superheroes, space aliens, comic disguises, chefs, and

– – –
*wait for it*

– – –

PIE!!

*thunderous applause*

Directions:

Combine ingredients to create a hilarious bout of one-upmanship between the two robots with a rollicking assemblage of booty body parts and costume changes perfect for developing building and amalgamation skills using shapes, sizes, colors, layers, and proportions.

Reboot as needed and read the book all over again. And again.

Eat BIG pieces of pie with lots of friends. Laugh, spread glee, re-assemble split sides with magic forks.

 

* * *

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julia’s cherry clafouti and a side of ham

~ jama ~ 25 Comments

“It’s fun to get together and have something good to eat at least once a day. That’s what human life is all about — enjoying things.” ~ Julia Child

Something magical happens whenever I make a Julia Child recipe that doesn’t happen with Martha, Mario, Giada or anyone else.

I hear Joooolia’s voice — cheery, chirpy, hooting and emphatic, reading aloud all the ingredients, explaining what I should do every step of the way, reminding me, “Above all, have a good time!”

“You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces – just good food from fresh ingredients.”

Making french bread on “The French Chef,” Episode 222, 1971, photo by Paul Child (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University)

Phew! I’m glad she said that, because I wasn’t planning to tackle her 15-page French Bread recipe any time soon. It’s summer, the living is easy, and Julia has just the thing for those of us clamoring for an easy sweet fix. Oui oui, clafoutis!

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