Getting me some Nook-ie

Here I present my new love, my Barnes & Noble Nook.  As a librarian who will always love the feel & weight of a printed book in my hands, it took me awhile to warm up to the idea of the ebook reader.  I find I am now almost embarrassed to say how much I love my Nook.  If you're willing to spend a little bit of money, less than the cost of a hardcover, to get the book you want to read right now, this is the thing. 

I bought a Nook instead of a Kindle because it combined eInk technology with color touch screen navigation.  Not that I don't ever buy anything from Amazon, but I just felt better about patronizing a bricks & mortar bookstore.  And, best of all.....  Barnes & Noble sells the cutest Nook covers like my snazzy Jonathan Adler one.

So far I've downloaded The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Help, Mockingjay, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and the newest by Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel.  (Can you tell my reading tastes are rather eclectic?)

Re: this last title, I literally woke up this morning and said to myself, "Oh, didn't Clockwork Angel come out yesterday?"  I tapped the little "shop" button on my Nook, searched for it, and downloaded it via wifi all in a matter of five minutes.  Completely addicting! 

Champurado, how I love thee

One of my favorite comfort foods is champurado, a Filipino breakfast food.  Think of it as chocolate oatmeal, except instead of oats it's made with rice.  Making it has become my Sunday morning ritual.  Champurado equates home for me.  You'd be hard-pressed to find champurado in a Filipino restaurant, although now our local Goldilocks has it at their weekend breakfast buffet.  When I want to feel closer to my mom who passed away two years ago, or introduce my daughter to a taste of my own childhood, or when I just need a dose of warm, carby, chocolatey goodness, I make champurado.

My Mom's Champurado
Serves  4

1 c. glutinous, sticky rice, uncooked
5 c. water
1/2 c. or more good quality hot chocolate mix
sugar
evaporated milk

Start with 1 cup of glutinous, sticky, sweet rice.  Do not use regular Calrose or Uncle Ben's!  I like this brand, Shirakiku:

Put it in a medium saucepan along with 5 cups of water.  Bring water to boil, then lower heat to medium-low to reduce to simmer. 

Add about 1/2 cup or more, to taste, of good quality hot chocolate mix.  I like my chocolate strong tasting, so I probably use more than 1/2 a cup.  I try to use Filipino tsokolate, that bittersweet stuff that comes in rolls wrapped in waxed paper from the Philippines when I can get it, but regular old hot chocolate mix, the good stuff, will do.  I happened to have this in my pantry, so this batch of champurado turned out rather fancy:

Stir in the cocoa until it's dissolved.  Simmer the rice, water, and cocoa for about 30 minutes, stirring occassionally.  During the last 10 minutes of cooking, you may want to stir more frequently, as your champurado should be pretty thick and goopy by then and you don't want it to stick to the bottom of your pan.  The rice by this point should be breaking down nicely, with little cracks forming around the edges of the rice grains, and you should have the consistency of thick oatmeal.  Adjust flavor to taste, adding sugar or more cocoa if needed. 

Serve warm with a little evaporated milk to stir in, or just regular milk if that's all you have.  Enjoy!

This Book is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson

So, one of my favorite old man library patrons walked up to the reference desk, put this book down in front of me, and opened it to one of the blankish pages near the front that had this lone quote on it: 

"Show me a computer expert who gives a damn, and I'll show you a librarian."
--Patricia Wilson Berger, former president, American Library Association

And then he pointed at me.  See, this patron, let's call him Mr. Y, is one of my favorites because he is:  a) kind, b) patient, c) waits his turn, d) practices good hygiene, e) does not act as if he's the most important person in the world, f) asks me computer questions and then does his darnedest to remember what I told him, and g) is always appreciative of what I'm able to teach him about technology.  He said, "Half of the chapters in this book are about you."

I now feel extremely compelled to read this book over the weekend because, well, of course I want to read about how wonderful I am!  False immodesty aside, I hope that I do actually find this book complimentary and fun.....  For as many stereotypes about librarians as there are, and in light of this super crappy economy, I am still proud to count myself amongst this rare breed and anything I can get my hands on that will give me a boost is a good thing.

My sister has inspired me......

to start blogging again! She's got a new food blog that chronicles her many, many, many eating adventures, of which I am a part of some. Check it out at gameoverfood.com!

Book review: Catching fire/ Collins, Suzanne

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
While not quite as well written as Hunger Games, this sequel rocks!!!! My love for these characters is neverending. Read read read these books! They are so fabulous. I am currently rereading the 1st one 'cause I can't get enough.

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Book review: Paper towns/ Green, John

Paper Towns by John Green

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
John Green loves to write the teen novel about the perfect, ungettable girl and this is no exception. Paper Towns is similar to Looking for Alaska, but much more humorous and lighthearted. Quentin, a self-professed band geek who doesn't play an instrument, has known his great love, Margo Roth Spiegelman, since childhood. High school forces the childhood friends apart into separate, cool vs. uncool social circles, and Margo maintains the peace between the two circles, protecting Quentin & co. from the wrath of the jocks and homecoming queens. While Q continues to love Margo from afar, he has no idea how troubled Margo has become since they were kids. When Margo invites Q to join her in a night of pranks and schemes, barriers fall and high school as Q knows it begins to unravel. Engaging read to start, drags a bit in the middle, but part 3 is so hilarious I was in stitches.


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Book review: Prep/ Sittenfeld, Curtis

Prep: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
Set in a fictional, elite Massachusetts boarding school, Lee Fiora applies to Ault School on a whim, gets a scholarship, and leaves Indiana for a world completely unlike her own. While the prose was well written and pitch perfect, Lee grated on my nerves. Definitely an engaging read, if only for the spot on characterizations of life behind the ivy-covered walls of prep school. Admittedly I love a character who's fiesty and outspoken (I mean, really, who doesn't?) and I can abide by a character who's shy and introspective, and both must at least be likable or endearing in some way. Lee was neither of those things. Spineless, whiny, fearful, skittish, snobbish to the people who did actually try to reach out to her, Lee commits a mortal sin in my book--hanging her entire self worth on a boy. Perhaps I've forgotten what it's like to be a teenage girl, but if this is what it was like, thank goodness I am an adult!


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