a mature palate…[doesn’t that sound sophisticated?]

Harriet_the_SpyWhen I was a kid one of my favorite books was Harriet the Spy. I first read it in the fourth grade, and I think that my love of people watching was greatly influenced by Harriet and her penchant for spying on people and keeping a notebook with her observations.

A little itty bitty part of me started blogging to do just that. 😉

Another thing that I picked up from good ole Harriet is a love of tomato sandwiches. Weird, I know, but oh so tasty! When I was a kid I would lather plenty of mayonaise on a couple of slices of Wonder bread, slice a tomato over it, and mash it together into a delicious mushy mess of goodness.

I hate to say that it’s been years since I ate a tomato sandwich, and I can’t really come up with a reason for not having eaten one. I guess I found more interesting things to do with tomatoes.

Until today.

I came home from work with the hungries and stood in front of the open refrigerator door contemplating cottage cheese, yogurt, and leftover pot roast. Then I spied a red, juicy tomato. Jackpot. Only, this wasn’t Harriet’s 11 year old-style sandwich. Oh no. I used a multigrain wheat bread with a light tangy mayo, and sprinkled garlic salt and parsley over the tomatoes before carefully placing a second slice of bread on top and…mashing it together into a delicious mushy mess of goodness.

Heaven.

2008_08-21-tomatosandwich2

it’s Banned Books Week!

imagesI am giddy with joy. After all kinds of silly weeks and months through out the year, you know what I’m talking about, Smile Day, Hug a Panda Day, Drink your Favorite Beer Day (well, I won’t take issue with that one), and every other manner of silliness, Banned Books Week is something I can sink my teeth into. Or, maybe, curl up with. Forgive the prepositions.

Banned Books Week is something that appeals to me, not just as a student and teacher of literature, but as a rebel. Ever since Sister Dawn caught me with Abby Scott’s big sister’s super secret copy of M*A*S*H in my desk and made me take it home, anticipating, I’m sure, an explosion from my parents (I was in the sixth grade and there were some morally objectionable components to that book) I embraced my right (even though it really wasn’t) to read everything I could get my hands on. Even if Sister Dawn objected.

In fact, ESPECIALLY if Sister Dawn, or any other adult, objected. I know, scandalous. In the end, though, it made me pretty well-read.  Here is my top 10 list of favorite [not effectively] banned books. What’s yours?

1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

2. Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain (that was censored and published posthumously!)

3. The entire Harry Potter adventure by J.K. Rowling

4. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

5. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

6. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

7. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

8. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

9. A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor

10. Earth’s Children series (Clan of the Cave Bear) by Jean. M. Auel

I suppose I could chime in about Captain Underpants, too. Funny books. Give ’em a try.

Avast ye!

Well, it’s another talk like a pirate day. Here’s my favorite pirate, Captain Hook:

“Avast belay, yo ho, heave to,
A-pirating we go
And if we’re parted by a shot
We’re sure to meet below!”
“Yo ho, yo ho, the pirate life,
The flag o’skull and bones
A merry hour, a hempen rope
And ‘hey’ for Davy Jones!”CaptainHookcartoon 

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