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Welcome to My Readable Feast, the new version of A Readable Feast, my former blog on ClubMom.

Here’s the deal. It’s a mess. I haven’t decided on my blog’s theme (look) yet. And I don’t have enough time to fix things up. But be patient…I’m working on it and hope to have everything cleaned up by the end of the month.

Until then, come by and see me at A Mama’s Rant, This Mama Cooks! or at The Write Spot.

 I’ve just been informed by the folks at ClubMom that they’ve cancelled the ClubMom Mom Blogs program and will stop hosting our blogs as of January 31, 2008.

Now stop making faces at them. They were very nice about it and offered very generous terms. They’re even letting us keep our content, the banner artwork, and our blog’s name. (That’s huge because most blog networks don’t let you keep your content.)

So I’m looking into buying a domain name and hosting A Readable Feast elsewhere. It’s going to be a lot of work and require an investment of time and money. With that in mind, I won’t be posting and will probably wait until the move to start blogging regularly again.

If you’re a frequent reader, please have patience. I’ll be in touch via this blog to let you know where you can find me.

If you are a publicist or publisher and have sent me books or DVDs to review or give away, I will post a few more times to fulfill my obligation to you here or at my mommy blog, A Mama’s Rant.

I’ve enjoyed my time immensely at ClubMom and have been proud to call myself a ClubMom blogger. I’m sad to go, but excited about taking A Readable Feast out on my own.

UPDATE: Since the domain name has already been registered, I’ll be changing this blog’s name to “My Readable Feast.” You’ll eventually find me at www.myreadablefeast.com.

The Little Red Hen is a classic tale of the hardworking hen and her lazy friends cat, duck and rat. Young readers will love the retelling of this classic tale, with its rhythmic, repetitive language and lively illustrations.

The Little Red Hen is in the Usborne First Reading series, written especially for children who are learning to read, and developed in consultation with Alison Kelly, Senior Lecturer in Education and reading specialist at Roehampton University.

Not only will the story and illustrations inspire any beginning reader, but so will the bread baking activity presented in the back of the book.

So in conjunction with “Salad Week” over at ClubMom blog Cooking with Whine, I offer a little bread to go along with Becki’s A Series of Unfortunate Events inspired mango salad (from Book 10 - The Slippery Slope).

The Little Red Hen’s Guide to Making Bread

Ingredients:

1. 1 lb (3 1/2 cups) white bread flour
2. 1/2 teaspoon salt
3. 1/2 teaspoon sugar
4. 2 teaspoons dried yeast or 1 teaspoon rapid rise yeast
5. 1 cup warm water
6. 2 Tablespoons olive or vegetable oil

Directions:

1. First, the Little Red Hen sifts the flour, sugar and salt through a sieve into a large bowl. Then she stirs in the yeast.
2. The Little Red Hen then mixes the water and oil. Next she pours them into a hollow in the middle of the flour.
3. She uses a wooden spoon to mix everything together until she’s made a soft dough.
4. Then, she puts the dough onto a floury work surface and kneads it for 10 minutes.
5. Next, the Little Red Hen puts the dough into a clean bowl and covers it with plastic food wrap.
6. She leaves the bowl in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours. The dough rises to twice its size.
7. She kneads the dough for a minute to get rid of any air bubbles. Then, she puts the dough in a buttered loaf tin.
8. The Little Red Hen leaves the dough for an hour in a warm place. Just before the hour is up, she turns on her over to 425 degrees F.
9. She puts her loaf on the middle oven shelf and leaves it to bake for 35-40 minutes.
10. She leaves it to cool on a wire rack. Then she eats it all by herself!

Continue Reading »

Gosh, the stuff I do for my fellow ClubMom Mom Bloggers. Here you go Loni at Joy in the Morning, a poem by someone who doesn’t like poetry. However, using the template was easy and fun! (And no, I didn’t get the kids to help. They were too busy fighting over the Alice in Wonderland DVD.)

I am

I am from library books, from Dannon coffee yogurt, and after school snacks

I am from the home on the plains, in the middle of suburbia, on a street where no one cares and everyone moves out

I am from the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific too, removing tumbleweeds in the front yard, marveling over perfect Columbine flowers in the Rocky Mountains

I am from the house with the aluminum Christmas tree who grew up going to Charger games, borne to Leslie and Marilyne, growing up with Nathan and Lucie, hanging with their Big Bad Dad

I am from the island unto herself who likes to complain, the iconoclast and good daughter who couldn’t leave until she grew up at 30

I am from the half-and-half family, Hanukkah celebrating church goers, token gentiles in a flock of Jews, married to the doubting son of two preachers.

I am the first generation American born not far from Ellis Island, from gefilte fish to brie cheese, with side orders of grape leaves and fish and chips, a melting pot order to go

From older parents, an English Brooklyn dodger (though Yankees fan) who survived the depression and fought in WWII, the other a little girl in occupied France where Nazis knocked on the door looking for her father

I am the first generation American, with a Jersey childhood and a Southern California adolescence, raising my children at a Mile High

With boxes of photos from weddings to births, stuck away in closets, basements and hard drives, less precious than the flesh and blood people and memories that made them

(Picture courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey - Central Region.)

When asked to join the ClubMom mom bloggers, I felt a little like Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) in Bull Durham: “I’m just happy to be here and hope I can help the ballclub. … I just wanta give it my best shot and, good lord willing, things’ll work out.”

But first there was the matter of the theme. Nothing simple like what I want for Christmas. Instead, Dear Editor Melisa asked me show how children’s books and cooking help me connect with my family. This wasn’t going to be as straightforward as my cooking blog, This Mama Cooks! or a kids’ book review site, like Anne Boles Levy’s fantastic Book Buds Kidlit Reviews.

Nope, it’s going to be so much more…either a complete friggin’ nightmare or at least a small headache.

But let me back up a bit and explain how I got here. First, I’m a professional blogger (meaning I get paid to blog…ain’t life grand?), web content writer, and freelance writer. I’ve been mama, food, and book blogging since 2004/5. (You can see a list of all my blogs and client sites at The Write Spot.)

I’m also an Usborne Books at Home educational and literacy consultant - basically I sell kids’ books at home shows, community events, and book fairs. I’m also a founding member and president of the board of directors at Carbon Valley Academy, a public charter school in Frederick, Colorado (and yes, I’m the Web Mom over there, too).

So A Readable Feast came out my love of cooking, my passion for children’s books, my work in education, and a strong desire to get paid to blog about it all. I just hope - the good lord willing - I can combine them all and keep you, Dear Reader, entertained, well fed, and possibly closer to your kids.

So welcome and as Saint Julia says, Bon Appétit!