Final Harry Potter Book Blasted For Containing Spoilers

NEW YORK—Harry Potter fans throughout the world were shocked, disappointed, and outraged to learn last week that J.K. Rowling's 750-page...

Harry Potter and the Deus Ex Machina

From Wikipedia: The phrase deus ex machina ['de.ʊs eks 'maːkʰi.naː] (literally "god out of a machine") describes an unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot.

I just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows today. It was a very entertaining read--suspenseful, with enough holes leftover for fankids to stay glued to their message boards-- though I will say that I'm glad the series is over. I don't think I could have endured any more books in which Harry and his friends repeatedly find themselves moments from their demise only to be saved by the most ridiculous and improbable thing you could ever imagine. That being said, it was a fun series, the final book no exception, and now of course I'll have to call my sister-in-law later to gab about the story's resolution.

Dessert, Er, Breakfast of the Week: German Pancake

This is an awesome recipe. Rather than standing over a stove for 20 minutes flipping pancakes, you pour this mix into a hot pan, stick it in the oven, and it bakes and contorts itself into a crazy shape while you sip your tea and listen to NPR (at least that's how I do it).


3 large eggs
1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 milk (I used a mix of 2% and half and half)
1/4 salt (can omit if using salted butter)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 Tbsp butter
confectioners' sugar and fresh fruit


Set oven to 400. In a large bowl, whisk eggs. Add flour and whisk until smooth. Add milk, salt, and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Once oven is hot, add the butter to a large cast-iron skillet (I don't have one, so I use a 10 in glass pie plate) and transfer to oven until the butter melts. Remove from the oven and quickly pour the batter into the hot pant. Return to oven and bake until the pancake is puffy and golden brown (about 15 min). Top with fruit and sugar.

While in Denver last week, Joanna took her first trip to Jamba Juice, and while only one of the employees was that peppy, she did get a similar dumfounded response when she was asked what kind of boost she wanted and answered, "A what?"

Dessert of the Week: Strawberry Mousse

This was a good choice for this week, as strawberries are Jo's favorite food and it allowed me to make a dessert without turning on the oven.

Perhaps feeling inspired, Joanna created her own dessert of the week and only melted one plastic dish in the process :)

In other news, we did see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last week and I enjoyed it without debating the various bones of contention as to how closely it parallels the book (for those who enjoy that debate, I did read an interesting interview with the screenwriter who actually made me appreciate the film adaptation a little better). I am not ashamed to say that I enjoy the Harry Potter books and movies, though neither are enough to keep me up until midnight on their release dates (I really enjoy sleep, you see).

Back to the mitten state this weekend for the nuptials of Dad and Pam and a cousin council meeting to be held at a secret location known only as "The Meadow." Cheers!

Well, it seems July is half over and I've been relying on Doug to chronicle our daily misadventures over the last few weeks. I have a few pictures here to post from the last week, as Joanna has been visiting us and serving as resident MarioKart champion, fellow hiker, and chief lemon water drinker.

Here's a few from Jo and my hike to Horsetooth Rock (aptly named, as you can see). It was a little cloudy for good pictures, though it did make for a nice, breezy hike.

And here's a few from our hike up Mt. Bierstadt on Saturday. We couldn't resist offering Jo the opportunity to see the world at 14,060 feet. The first few miles are a beautiful rolling upgrade through willows and wildflowers. Things get a lot steeper the last 1.5 miles as your lungs begin fight the altitude. The last part is a boulder scramble to the summit for a spectacular view. All in all, we hiked a little over 7 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 2,850 feet. My only gripe was the sheer number of people on the trail, which at times made the day feel a little more like an amusement park than a wilderness hike.

Okay, so maybe it's true that all I do is sit around eating desserts and reading books. So be it.


Book: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire
It seems most everyone has heard this story either by reading the book or seeing the musical, but I'm a little slow on the uptake. This was a fast-paced and visually stimulating novel. I started to lose steam near the end when Maguire tries to tie the story into Dorothy's arrival and the witch starts waxing existential. Nevertheless, it was a nice distracting read for my lazy summer afternoons in various coffee shops.


Book: The Polysyllabic Spree, by Nick Hornby
Tagline reads: "A hilarious and true account of one man's struggle with the monthly tide of the books he's bought and the books he's been meaning to read." I love Hornby's books, especially High Fidelity, and found that I enjoy his literary self-disclosures just as well. I mostly appreciate his humor, and the fact that he neurotically plans his next reading based on the feelings exuded by his previous one.




Film and Television: Firefly Series and Serenity
Quite possibly (no, definitely) the first science fiction series I've actually enjoyed. As earth becomes overpopulated, people begin seeking out and inhabiting other planets. So instead of the typical futuristic science fiction with weird looking aliens you find a dozen fledgling planets populated with humans and an amalgamation of diverse cultures. It's an oddly endearing mix of the wild west and outerspace. Watching the Firefly series was what got me hooked. The movie Serenity is just a shorter, darker variation of the story.

The dessert of the week this week was a functional effort to rid our freezer of ice cream before we leave for the mitten state. Thus we enjoyed vanilla bean ice cream with fresh raspberries topped with a shot of Bonny Doon raspberry dessert wine. It disappeared much too quickly to snap a photo.

Lest you people think that all I do is sit around eating delicious desserts and reading new books, I'll post a few pics from our latest weekend adventure. One nice thing about living in Colorado is that when it gets too hot in the foothills you can always move up a few thousand feet in search of cooler air and a breeze. Armed with camping and climbing gear and enough water and food to last us 2 days, Dylan, Doug, and I escaped record setting heat in Fort Collins and head to the Ironclads, a group of rock formations just south of Estes Park. The weather was perfect and our spot was peaceful. My first climb was Gypsies in the Palace (5.8). Feeling a little bold afterwards (possibly by the inspiration of watching Man vs Wild at the Calder's the night before?), I decided to do my first lead climb on the same route. It was a pretty exhilarating climb and one that I won't forget soon. We retired to our peaceful though slightly sloped tent site near the wall, happy to sleep under the stars even if it meant waking every hour to reposition our bodies back to the top of the tent. :) We did a few more routes on Sunday, then took a leisurely drive back to Fort Collins for some choice city deli bbq....mmmmm....

Dessert of the Week: Chocolate Pecan Pie

More commonly known as Derby Pie to Kentuckians and Run for the Roses enthusiasts, my first chocolate pecan pie was a gallopping success (pun shamelessly intended):

1/2 c butter, melted
3/4 c white sugar
1/2 c all purpose flour
2 eggs
1 Tbsp bourbon (which I didn't have and used brandy instead)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c chocolate chips (I used chunks of leftover Lindt dark and milk chocolate which made it extra rich)
1 c chopped pecans
1 9 in. pie crust

Preheat oven to 350. Spread chocolate chips and nuts in bottom of crust. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Mix in eggs, then flour. Stir in bourbon and vanilla. Pour filling over chips and nuts in pie shell. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

The butter/sugar/etc mixture looks like cake batter and almost looks like a second crust on top of the pie. For the undercrust I used an all butter pie crust in an effort to find an alternative to shortening based-pies. This one worked fine though not quite as flaky as shortening. Maybe a half and half approach would be a good compromise.

Serve warm with a scoop of whipped cream or vanilla bean ice cream and share with good friends.

Mom B Conquers Gem Lake!

A few pics from our hike in Estes Park on Tuesday. The trail is a short and steep 1.8 mile trek to Gem Lake. The entire hike offers beautiful views around every bend, especially when the wildflowers are in full bloom.

Long post--feel free to read in installments if you wish...


Film: Waitress
This movie was a good way to cool off on a Monday afternoon. As someone whose thoughts and emotions are usually tied up (either allegorically or practically) with food, I, of course, liked the way that the trials and joys of the main characters are inseparable from pies. The middle of the film seems to glorify extramarital affairs, but the story's resolution rose above my initial impressions. Witty and quirky at times, painful and depressing at times, it was much more than a romantic comedy.



Book: Lord of the Flies, by William Golding

I got on a kick a while ago to reread some of the books that were assigned in high school but didn't make much sense to my seventeen year old mind at the time. This is a book that somehow escaped me in my high school assignments, so I got to read it for the first time.. As I perused it in the library, I figured that if nothing else I will be able to clearly understand all of the cultural references and parodies of the story. After a few days of digesting the story which is, well, just weird as you read it, I've found myself liking it more and more. The story was very visceral to me and I could physically feel the chaos as the island descends into disorder. As a parable and a commentary on human morality in the midst of group governing systems I found it pretty


interesting.Book: The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements, by Sandor Ellix Katz

This was a pretty interesting and well-researched book following grass-roots alternatives to the modern industrial-food complex. Diets consisting of roadside weeds and roadkill; the raw foods diet (including raw meat for some); the lifestyles of "freegans" aka "opportunivores" who subsist entirely on discarded food; oh and an entire chapter on legalizing cannibis. Katz is a self-admitted extremist and activist when it comes to food, and the book is not intended to offer widespread solutions to the current food crisis (clearly several hundred million people cannot subsist on roadkill), but does offer some interesting even if unfeasable options with the basic message that it would do us good to become more connected to our food, whether that means growing our own, visiting local farms, or just reading our ingredient labels more closely. I'll list just a few of the interesting things that Katz mentions (I didn't fact check for accuracy, though Katz lists his sources in the back of the book):

**A very eye-opening illustration of how many organic companies (you know, the products with the cute small family farm on the front label) are now owned by major corporations. Click here for the updated info. Buying organic can be a good option if you are concerned about pesticide residuals, the use of genetically modifed organisms, and the use of growth hormones and antibiotics in animals. But buying organic does not mean supporting small farmers. The USDA estimated in 2001-02 that farmers receive only 19 cents of every dollar spent on food.

**Based on research provided by the Pew Initiative, as of 2004, the United States was one of only 5 nations that have proactively embraced growing genetically modified food. The United States cultivates over half the acreage of geneticallly modified food worldwide, whereas most other nations have either banned them outright or used caution in allowing them in their country. Countries such as Zambia have refused U.S. donations of genetically modified corn.

**Although common wisdom tells us that healthy food leads to good health, there seems to be little connection between the food industry and the health industry. In 1960, the average household spent 17.5% of its income on food and 5% on health care. In 2003, the average household spent less than 10% on food and more than 15% on health care. I recognize that this increase is due to multiple factors, but anyone who has ever eaten hospital food can tell you that the health industry does not always practice what it preaches...

**High fructose corn syrup (you know, the stuff that makes dr. pepper so good) consumption has rose more than 1,000 percent from the 1970s to 2000; today the average consumption of high-fructose corn syrup is more than fifty-five pounds per person per year. Katz quotes a doctor studying rats on a high fructose diets. She reports that whereas every cell in the body can metabolize glucose (ie sugar), all fructose must be metabolized in the liver. The livers of rats on high-fructose diets looked like the livers of alcoholics, plugged with fat and cirrhosis. (yuck).

**While the US government is jumping on the biofuel bandwagon by endorsing the use of corn to make ethanol, a small group of people are recycling used cooking oil into fuel. This is encouraging in that it does not require redirecting edible food or agricultural resources and provides a way to dispose of the over 3 billion gallons of used fry oil used by American restaurants each year. An interesting alternative.
6/21/07 Update: I heard a story on npr last night about a man who was fined over $3,000 for running his diesel engine entirely on soybean oil ($1000 of this was to pay taxes that he would be charged if he were buying gasoline). Kinda makes you wonder how serious our country is about reducing our dependence on oil...

I wish I could say that I had all the answers to how to feed an entire nation with fresh, healthy food from sustainable farms (and this would mean feeding ALL people, not just the ones who can afford to shop at Whole Foods). But I don't. And lest I spout statistics in an effort to make me look like a food and health elitist, let me say that I enjoy eating things like cheetos and ice cream, and drinking coke with my pizza. But I will say that in the past year Doug and I have had lots of conversations and made a more concerted effort to know where our food comes and to be more conscious of where we spend our money. And it has been the beginning of a very good thing.

Dessert of the Week: Chocolate Earl Grey Cake

This was a recipe I pulled from Real Simple magazine a few years back and may have made once. The process of making it is delightful, as it makes this wonderfully fluffy chocolate brown batter that looks good enough to eat by itself. The cake comes out chocolately with a little bergamot spice to it and not as sweet as cakes from a boxed mix. We had it with vanilla ice cream and strawberries and it was quite nice!

I've learned the hard way over the last year that cakes and cookies at high altitudes don't always rise as they should and the recipes require some adjustments (usually in the leavening or shortening). And to complicate matters, there are no hard and fast rules for making adjustments--each recipe requires its own set of additions and reductions. But the beauty of this cake is that even if the middle sinks in (which mine did), it still looks pretty once you turn it over and dust it with confectioner's sugar!

In other news, Mom B arrived yesterday for a much needed vacation, havarti is my new favorite cheese, and I was sadly reminded this morning that my student loan payoff schedule ends in 2027. Sigh.

Dessert of the Week: Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

I've decided I am going to make at least one new dessert each week--not necessary a dessert I've never made before, but one that takes a little more forethought than say chocolate chip cookies. The strawberries we bought at the farmer's market were amazing, and reminded me a lot of the strawberries we would go pick ourselves at the strawberry farm south of Middleville. The recipe I used was from the old Betty Crocker cookbook with few adjustments. I've decided you can't improve on pie crust recipes, only in the execution of making the pie crust. This one turned out great! The filling was a little juicy due to the ripeness of the strawberries, but the crust was perfectly flaky and golden brown.



For those of you who live near us, know that we will likely be inflicting dessert and card games upon you over the next 2 months.



In other news, check out Kate's gallery for some amazing pictures of our trip to Vedauwoo this past Saturday. Though I've been there a half dozen times to hike and catch a sunset, this was my first time climbing there, and my first time doing outdoor crack climbs. It was a very rewarding day (as you can see from my expression here)!

King of the Ferret-Leggers

I recently read a book called Not So Funny When It Happened, a collection of travel stories by such authors as Anne Lamott and Bill Bryson. It was an amusing little book and one that would make a perfect audiobook for a road trip. I've decided to dedicate this post, however, to a particular essay by Donald Katz that describes the sport of Ferret-Legging:

"Basically the contest involves the tying of a competitor's trousers at the ankles and the subsequent insertion into those trousers of a couple of peculiarly vicious fur-coated, foot-long carnivores called ferrets. The brave contestant's belt is then pulled tight, and he proceeds to stand there in front of the judges as long as he can, while animals with claws like hypodermic needles and teeth like number sixteen carpet tacks try their damndest to get out."

Katz interviews Reg Mellor, the "King of the Ferret-Leggers," a title bestowed after winning the record for "keeping 'em down" as they say, for 5 hours and 26 minutes (the previous record being just over a minute).

I'm not sure if this was a legitimate sport in Yorkshire (though wikipedia seems to thinks so) or just built on a dare, but you can read an abridged version of Katz's article here.

Book: Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope, by Jonathan Kozol

"Childhood ought to have at least a few entitlements that aren't entangled with utilitarian considerations. One of the should be the right to a degree of unencumbered satisfaction in the sheer delight and goodness of existence in itself. Another ought to be the confidence of knowing that one's presence on this earth is taken as an unconditional blessing that is no contaminated by the economic uses that a nation does or does not have for you."

Kozol has written so often to expose the injustices of a class-and-race-segregated American education system and the social inequalities imbedded within society itself, while upholding the humanity and the dignity of those living under such oppression. This book is more a personal reflection in which he writes of all the reasons he returned to a little section of the South Bronx, NY hundreds of times after his writings and investigations were completed: the children he met there, and the adults who cared for them. It is difficult to describe all of the emotions elicited by his writing, much less to post in a blog.

Things I like...
A few of my new summer projects:

Liz the Gardener
I'm getting over my fear of growing things in such an arid climate. Hopefully I will be rewarded with fresh salsa and pesto in a few months!

Our tomato plant:


Cilantro, yet to sprout, and basil:


A few hardy succulents for the window:


Liz, the Backgammon Goddess
We found an old backgammon set at a garage sale this weekend and since then our house has been a nonstop ring of fiery competition. Doug and I seem to find endless ways to have fun together, which I think should be a prerequisite for marriage.

It's like Book-It for Adults!
I've decided to start cataloging the number of books I read this summer, and who knows, maybe I can turn in my list to my husband, who will then take me out for pizza!

First book:
Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

An interesting amalgamation of economics, history, and sociology, Levitt poses and then responds to such questions as "Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?", "How is the ku klux klan like a group of real estate agents?", and "What makes a perfect parent?". He applies statistical research to some interesting topics not commonly explored in economic theory. Ironically, though, he warns throughout the book that often the conclusions drawn from research can be misapplied, a warning that should apply to his own book as well. What we see in a heap of statistical data, depends largely on what we are looking for. Overall though, it was an intersting short read as a nonfiction that was light and fast paced enough for my summer state of mind.

Epic Plans for the First Day of Summer:

1. Get a hair cut
2. Start a new book
3. Snacks

If that isn't an indication that you should all get a job in the public schools, I don't know what is. After a very busy and stressful school year, I have no guilt about enjoying my summer off. And as Doug alluded to in his blog, I do have epic plans for the fall -- a new job for a 3-5 grade elementary school nearby. Not only does it shorten my commute by about 20 minutes each way, but it is an ideal position for me, one that actually allows me to work with kids, families, and teachers in a district that respects its employees.

We had a great weekend camping and climbing near The Shelf, south of Colorado Springs. It was the maiden voyage for our tent and a lot of our new gear. Though sadly, we forgot to charge the camera battery and got 2 pictures in before it died! So we will have to rely on friends for the documentation.

Other plans for the summer include many more camping/hiking/climbing trips, riding my new bike around town, nerdly perusals of the local library, various culinary experiments, a visit from Doug's mom, a trip to Michigan, and a visit from my freshly pierced sister! (still waiting for a picture of your bejeweled nose, Jo) :)

My Accomplishments for the Day

Another book, The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion. I first learned of her writing years ago through her book Slouching Towards Bethlehem. The Year of Magical Thinking is a wonderful memoir chronicling the year after the death of her husband, of the grief, exhaustion, and literal insanity of the mourning process.

And my other accomplishment: Chili Shrimp and Coconut Rice, which promises to be a new favorite in our house. Now to be topped off with root beer floats. Happy Sunday!

Book: The Glass Castle

This was an interesting memoir--Walls describes surviving the dysfuntion and neglect of growing up with two eccentric, scheming, self-absorbed parents in a series of stories that would easily be described on the evening news as horrific, but to a child who's never known any different is simply "normal". She describes her story the way she experienced it as a child--running from creditors in every city and going days without food seems like an adventure as a child, but as she grows up she gets inklings that parents are supposed to take care of their children rather than the other way around. I was not looking forward to reading a story that on the outside seems so tragic, but as Walls tells it, is actually a story of resilience and the shared experience and bond of siblings.

So this is fun. A while ago, my dad showed us a few pictures of my parents' first apartment, featuring some of the furniture that we've inherited in our own place 30 years later. What I found entertaining was that the placement in the rooms is almost exactly the same.





I am inordinately proud of this table. Built by my father in the 70s in said apartment using whatever tools he had, this was the table I remember eating Sunday dinners on as a kid. As of last summer, it had been sitting in my dad's garage for over a decade. I endured many hours of sweat, splinters, and paint thinner fumes to strip it, sand it, stain it, move it across the country, and reassemble it in our new home. My dad cheered me on and bore gracefully the death of his power sander, which I killed halfway through the project. Below is the finished product: