On the Bookshelf

I've been participating in a monthly book club that's been a lot of fun.  It's been a very LONG time since I actually discussed a book!  And of course, we don't always stick to the book . . . but that's part of the fun.

June was my month and so we read Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities which I hadn't read in a long long time.  Once you get into the language and get past the initial setting up of the story it's really a fabulous book.  But I also had to share the treats for the night because I had too much fun doing French and English foods.

For French foods we just had baguette, sparkling grape juice (no wine of course, but we HAD to get close because of all the wine and blood in the book), and several different french cheeses.  By the way, Raclette -- stinky cheese.  Don't buy it and don't, by any means, open it!  It was terrible!  But the others were fine, bleu cheese, Brie (I love Brie) and Comte swiss.  Very good.  Oh and we had fruit.  And then for the British side, I made a Victoria Sponge Cake!!  And it turned out pretty good!

It's a pretty simple cake to make (if you can get an Americanized recipe -- I couldn't even read the British ones!).  Very basic ingredients and you just mix for a long time to infuse the batter with air.  Just make sure you use parchment paper in the bottom of the cake pans.  At the last minute I didn't have any and it was very hard to get the cake out -- we broke it into several pieces actually.  Then fill with jam and cream (optional), top with some powdered sugar and voila!!  I might have to go eat the last piece actually since I'm thinking about it . . . 

This is just cute -- Abby has taken to walking around the house in her towel after her bath.  She has to find everyone and tell them she's a baby burrito.  

Oh and my girls are obsessed with a book right now called How To Raise a Dinosaur by Natasha Wing.

It's a cute book with really cute illustrations but I tell you they are obsessed with two parts: the one where you see the dinosaur bones (inside the dinosaur not like a skeleton) and the part where the kid has to pick up the poop with a tractor.  Kids are kids I guess!!