My New Favorite Things

The kitchen sink pork marinade was a success, but I've simplified the base. The recipe I posted tasted great, and the pork was moist, but the maple syrup really came through--not a bad thing at all, just depends on your sides. Tonight I had pork steak/tenderloins, so I did salt/pepper/21 Seasoning with soy sauce, crushed garlic, course Dijon, lime juice and ginger dressing. This time it was the garlic/mustard that rose to the palate.

Today we saw The Secret World of Arietty, the new Studio Ghibli film. It's based on the Borrowers, which I haven't read in ages. In true Miyazaki form, it's charming, gorgeous, and girl-friendly. My #1 son was a trooper and saw it with me--and the theater was filled with lots of families and lots of girls. We've raised him on Studio Ghibli movies though, so he wanted to see it, too. All the other boys on line were off to see Star Wars, The Phantom Menace. To be fair, we saw that already, on opening night. He's become the 3D movie snob, but he's also become my movie buddy, which is really nice.

Oh yeah, and I would love a pair of boots like Arietty. 

I started using the phrase "My New Favorite Thing" as a monthly wrap-up or a backup when I did the shopping column for the Dig, probably in 2002. It's not so original that I don't think to claim any kind of dibs on it, but it tickled me to see a FB posting by my favorite author the other day using the phrase. (I haven't watched the video yet, so I can't vouch for it. This is a screen shot, so the links won't work, either.) 

Back in 1999 I actually got to meet Neil Himself, and it was wonderful. He did a reading at Waterstone's books in Boston (which is now a school) promoting Stardust and Neverwhere. He signed my advance copy of Stardust that my friend liberated from the bookstore he was working in, and a couple of other things. I'm excited and curious about American Gods as a live action series, but so glad it'll be on HBO. 

Yes, that is my natural hair color, too.

This is my 200th post, and on Twitter I have 200 tweets. It's a 200 kind of day! 

we turned out OK

One of the last times I was home, I rescued some of my old books. Among them was this gem that we've been reading a lot. Owen loves it, especially the silly stories. His current favorites are Big Bird's Rhinoceros Rhymes and Pete the Pirate (who's not nasty, but bogus like our good friend Pete always says). It's amazing how progressive it is, with "townspeople" and a woman mayor. How '70s!

Then in the New York Times today is a big article about how the Sesame Street of our day isn't appropriate for today's toddlers. Sure, there's some sarcasm in the article, but there's some seriousness too. Some of it is good, and some of it is people reading too much into things. Heaven forbid anyone smokes a pipe anymore.

It amazes me how much of my job--sanitizing books to a certain degree for children's textbooks--I've absorbed. Those scissors are too pointy! Where's the helmet for that kid riding a bike? Look at the udders on that cow! On the other hand, I read and recommend so many fantasy-based and funky picture books that I know we could never, ever use in the reading program.

So what can we do to make reading fun? Another oh-so-cheery article from the Boston Globe tells us that kids are reading significantly less for fun than ever before. The report points the finger at the media, multitasking, and a disconnect in education between the ages of 9 and 17. The most interesting part from the article for me is was: "The poorest Americans who read did twice as much volunteering and charity work as the richest who did not read," (NEA Chairman Dana) Gioia said. "The habit of regular reading awakens something inside a person that makes him or her take their own life more seriously and at the same time develops the sense that other people's lives are real."