Count Down to Christmas with Not-Your-Ordinary Christmas Books
Radios are counting-down to Christmas by playing 30 days of Christmas-ish Songs (In Trinidad make that 100 days...who knew there were sooooooo many).
TV stations are playing 25 days of Christmas-ish Movies.
I'm joining the festivities with a count-down of my own: 12 Days of Christmas-ish Children's Books, with a twist! I'm listing all 12 now so you can:
- Read one a Day . . . 12 in one day . . . or all 12 every day!
- Buy one--or all 12--for tots on your list!
- Use my list to bring to inspire you to pull your favs off the shelves!
Co-written by Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith, art by Steve Borkman
#12: NAUGHTY! Alfie F. Snorklepuss doesn’t believe in Santa Claus, and he’s being a real pest about it. Cranky Alfie is everywhere—on TV, in the newspapers, over the radio—telling boys and girls what he thinks is the truth. Then, one Christmas Eve, the man in red himself packs up Alfie and brings him to the North Pole for an attitude adjustment, Santa-style.
Brand new from Anne Broyles, art by KE Lewis
#11: FOLKTALE-LY: It's time for Arturo and his Central American grandmother, Abue Rosa, to decorate their Christmas tree. Abue Rosa shares with him the family history of each ornament as it is hung. But what happens when Arturo plays with-and breaks-a glass bird?
by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel, art by HB Lewis
#10 FRIENDLY: Each year at Christmas, Joe writes a letter to Santa. But they've had a few misunderstandings in the past. Last year, for example, Joe wanted a fire-engine-red racecar with retracting headlights, and he did get one — but it was only three inches long. So this year Joe is really, really careful. He describes exactly what he wants — and on Christmas morning, guess what's waiting for him under the tree!
By Laura Leuck, art by Gris Grimly
#9 MONSTERLY: Mack and Zack are getting ready for Christmas, hanging up their smelly socks and blistertoe, decorating their dead pine tree, making poisonberry pies. Here in the rollicking rhyme of Laura Leuck and the gruesomely silly illustrations of Gris Grimly, is a truly memorable Christmas tale.
by Kandy Radzinsky
The 1st was so popular, Kandy followed up with the collection of Cat letters to Santa.
#8 CATISHLY: A cat-happy twist on the traditional English Christmas song for hard-core feline fanciers of any age. . . . they'll appreciate Radzinski's solemn, admiring paintings of her subjects, each whisker heroically articulated, and her settings (the sleeping twosome curl up prettily in a basket with a Christmas quilt, six cats a-playing are decorously entangled with ribbon and gift wrap).
Leave it to Bob Shea!
#7 PREHISTORICALLY: Dinosaur is getting ready for Santa! He tackles many challenges--decorating, making presents for Mom and Dad, trying not to be naughty--and defeats each one with his trademark ROAR! But on Christmas Eve, when he hears some rustling downstairs, he can't resist a peek. Will our feisty red friend meet his match in the man in the red suit?
Richard Paul Evans originally wrote this as a gift for his family members. After sharing it with your family, try creating a story of your own? Maybe your young artists can illustrate it?
#6 WARMHEARTEDLY: Rick, Keri, and their 4-year-old daughter, Jenna, are hired as caretakers and are welcomed into the home of Mary, an ailing widow, just in time for the holidays. Before long, it becomes apparent that Mary cherishes their companionship, and this young family begins to understand that their relationship to Mary is more special than any one of them could have realized. These tender relationships, fraught with real-life struggles, are the backdrop for unraveling a mysterious secret that gently propels the reader through this short story.
Eve Bunting and David Diaz are an incredible author-illustrator duo. Warning: this story will make all y'all think differently about homeless people. CAUTION: could prompt spontaneous giving . . .
#5 THOUGHTFULLY: Simon and his mom don't have much--the cardboard house they built for themselves, a tiny Christmas tree, and a picture of an angel pinned to one wall. On Christmas Eve they take in a frail stranger who needs a place to keep warm, and the next morning Simon wakes early to find that the woman has vanished. Instead, he sees December, the angel from the picture, with her wings fanned out over their cardboard house. Could she be real?
Story and Art by Chris Van Allsberg
Watch the movie, too! Tom Hanks is the conductor/dad!
#4 MAGICALLY: The tale of a young boy lying awake on Christmas Eve only to have Santa Claus sweep by and take him on a trip with other children to the North Pole
By Eve Bunting, art by David Diaz. These two make an amazing team!
#3 POINGNANTLY: Christmas is coming and Carlos and his family are going home-driving south across the border to Mexico. But Mexico doesn't seem like home to Carlos, even though he and his sisters were born there. Can home be a place you don't really remember?
I love you, Little Cindy Lu Who!
#2 Susically: "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch" and oh how we love you! Gotta read it every year. Gotta watch the movie, too--two times, maybe more, sing all the songs, feel that heart grow three sizes . . .
Robert Sabuda's Pop-Up version
#1: TRADITIONALLY: Thanks to Clement Moore for T'was The Night Before Christmas . . . or Henry Livingston, whichever actually wrote the story of Santa's stop one Christmas eve. poem. (A mock trail was even held to determine the true author.) Once a season, at least, this book needs to be read. Which version? You're choice. This classic Christmas poem has been retold in scads of different versions: Cajun, Golden Book, Cowboy, Cat, Thomas the Tank, even Pop Up . . . Call in "Henry's revenge" that royalties for all these go not to Clement Moore's heirs, but to the retellers.
We've come to the end of my counting down to Christmas: 12 Days of Christmas-ish Children's Books List. I hope you'll have as much fun reading through the season as I have!
- Please add to the list by sharing your favorites. Help build the list to 25 days of Christmas-ish reads, and onto 100! (Post suggestions in the "comments" section! Curious minds want to know.)
Popsicles
What Inspires: POPSICLES I’m waiting in my dermatologist’s office to have my annual “mole check.” (Moles? Creepy name, always makes my skin crawl. . . Is one more burrowing up from under my skin right now???) Anyway . . .
There is a brochure on the table for a non-invasive fat melting procedure called “Cool Sculpting.” (Oh please, do not pretend you wouldn’t pick up a brochure promising “fat melting”, too.) The explanation inside explains that the revolutionary discover which lead to “Cool Sculpting” technology came because someone noticed that children with dimples eat more popsicles.
Who do you suppose that “someone” was? And how was the data gathered? Did someone race around after Ice Cream trucks? Or did someone take playground to playground surveys.
Genetically speaking: “Dimples are visible indentations formed as a result of the underlying flesh of the cheeks. . . actually the manifestations of a birth defect resulting from a shortened facial muscle. A dimple is the outcome of a fault in the subcutaneous connective tissue that develops during embryonic development.” (From a BRAIN TRAIN post about dimples.)
Genetic’s aside: It seems the icy popsicles being sucked against the inner cheek of the child over an extended period of time kills fat cells in the cheek. Makes um less “cheeky” (If I’d known that I might have sent a couple certain someones chasing the Ice Cream Truck more often.)
Which jives perfectly with more from the BRAIN TRAIN: And sometimes, “A variation in the structure of the facial muscle zygomaticus major is known to cause dimples.” And leads us back to “Cool Sculpture”:
Does this mean that people with only one dimple only sucked popsicles on one side? And did that someone tally statistics to find out if there are more right-side suckers or left-side suckers? Or is the split pretty much fifty-fifty dreamsicle-style? If that’s the case, fair jurors could be almost guaranteed (if we limit the drawing pool to folks with dimples in both cheeks.)
I always wanted dimples. I used to stand in front of the mirror with my cheeks sucked in wishing I had them. I wonder: If I start sucking popsicles now, can I grow some dimples? (Or is it lose?)
And what about people with dimpled chins? Where do they suck their popsicles?
Remember the adage “Dimple in chin, Devil within”? Is “Devil” a euphemism for unflavored popsicles (otherwise known as icicle)? Weather-wise it’s been called devilishly cold—so cold it feels hot as the devil.
Dimpled knees?
Dimpled butts? ………………………………..Fudgesicles? (I know, I shouldn’t have . . .)
Or Dimpled feet? …………………………………… Say maybe what’s the idea behind Michael Frank’s odd-but-catchy ditty: “Popsicle toes are always froze . . . ”
Popsicles . . .
Battling the Buts
When my friend Teri was in Paris, a few years back, I went to visit her. 
One day she came home all a-twitter. She had been invited to a party by a guy she had seen, often, at an internet cafe. 
(A handsome, Frenchman).
Later, she and I, her brother Anthony and a guy friend of his, discussed whether she should go to the party or not:
"But . . . do you think he really meant to invite me?" she said. "Maybe he was just being nice . . . "
"Did he look at you?" Anthony and friend asked.
"Yes."
"Then he's interested."
"But . . .
"Did he smile at you?" Anthony and friend asked.
"Yes."
"Then he's interested."
"But . . .
"Did he talk to you you?" Anthony and friend asked.
"Yes."
"Then he's interested. . . . GO TO THE PARTY!!!!"
It's the same with writing, or any creative, non time-card activity. When it comes to our definition of "working" or not, we go all middle-grade and dismiss all that goes into the process with that 3-letter word: "But . .. that doesn't count... "But . .. I'm not really...
To counteract those insecure boogies, I've created this litmus test. (I've used "writing" as my creative endeavor. Substitute yours for it.) Then print it out and post it prominently. The next time buts get the better of you, give yourself the test.
Am I Writing?
Are you thinking about your story?
You're writing!
Are you doing research for your story?
You're writing!
Are you reading words written by other writers, especially those you admire...or not?
You're writing!
Have you written words today? A grocery list? An email? Notes for your story? ...any at all?
YOU ARE A WORKING WRITER!!!!!!!
--Read. Respond. When in doubt, repeat. Repeat as needed.
Rocking and Rambling
Zane's pirate flag is flying high today!
ONE DAY I WENT RAMBLING
is a finalist for the Writers' League of Texas Book Award!
For more on WLT click: http://www.writersleague.org/131/2013-Book-Awards-Contest-Finalists
The 2013 Writers' League of Texas Book Awards Finalists
*Winners will be announced on this page in early September.
FICTION
Along These Highways by Rene S. Perez Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale by Lynda Rutledge Pillow Book of the Flower Samurai by Barbara Lazar Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club by Benjamin Alire Saenz Appearances: Stories by Jan Seale
NONFICTION
Floyd Patterson: The Fighting Life of Boxing's Invisible Champion by WK Stratton Secret Sex Lives: A Year on the Fringes of American Sexuality by Suzy Spencer Gated Grief: The Daughter of a GI Concentration Camp Liberator Discovers a Legacy of Trauma by Leila Levinson My Boys and Girls Are in There: The 1937 New London School Explosion by Ron Rozelle In the Shadow of the Carmens: Afield with a Naturalist in the Northern Mexican Mountains by Bonnie Reynolds McKinney State of Minds: Texas Culture and Its Discontents by Don Graham
POETRY
Horse-Minded by Suzette Marie Bishop Crane Creek, Two Voices by Vanessa Furse Jackson & Robb Jackson Strange Light by Derrick C. Brown Begging for Vultures by Lawrence Welsh Jan Seale: New and Selected Poems by Jan Seale
MIDDLE GRADE & YOUNG ADULT NOVELS
Breaking Lauren by Jordan Deen Chained by Lynne Kelly Summer and Bird by Katherine Catmull The Veil by Cory Putman Oakes The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy by Nikki Loftin Return to the Willows by Jacqueline Kelly
PICTURE BOOKS
Alicia's Fruity Drinks by Lupe Ruiz-Flores HummingBirds: Facts and Follklore from the Americas by Jeanette Larson It Jes' Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw by Don Tate One Day I went Rambling by Kelly Bennett
Cooking Up Awareness
Have you noticed airport cultural diversity campaigns? Those corridors lined with posters show the same image with different definitions or different images with the same definition?
It makes the walk down gangways more interesting, definitely. And the message is delivered, clearly. But it’s nowhere near as effective as say, cooking a batch of barley.
It’s a happy little cook-a-thon afternoon. The music is playing, pots are bubbling and I’m dicing and slicing. Caught up in the joy of it all, I decided to cook up a batch of pearl barley. Those grains are just so darn good for you… The bag had been calling from the cupboard for a while.
While living in Indonesia, we always kept our grain products, pasta, flours, spices, grains, seeds, nuts… in the freezer to keep them from becoming bug food. We did the same when I was a kid in Huntington Beach—after big brother Joe and I whipped up and ate a batch of whole-wheat flour chocolate chip and weevil cookies.
In Trinidad, no one has warned us about bug issues with food storage. Sure it’s humid and hot and tropical—but it’s air-conditioned, a veritable fridge. So I didn’t think we had to freeze any of that stuff. Instead, I’ve been stuffing our freezer with important things: frozen margaritas, the corksicle, protein & chocolate bars!
Barley just takes so darn long to cook: 40 to 50 minutes. Caught up in cook-a-thon mania I’d decided to rescue the bag of pearl barley from the cupboard. Once I’d committed myself to putting in the time, I decided to do it right. Why mess around with cooking a few portions of barley when in the same amount of time I could cook a batch—all 50 some portions. (Where is that Food for 50 Cookbook anyway, John???) Once it was cooled, I planned to season some up for eating today, then bag it, tag it, and pop the rest into the freezer to use in quick meals ahead. Rachael & Martha got nothing on me!
So, I dumped the whole box of pearl barley into a colander, gave it a good rinsing, clicked onto the Internet to find out the proper proportions of barley to water and cooking time, and got to it. Now if barley is good, wouldn’t barley with protein be better? That’s what I figured, too. So I added a couple more cups of water to the pot, set the timer for 20 minutes and measured out a cup of quinoa to add during the last half of the barley cooking time.
Fifty minutes later, I dipped out a spoonful for tasting. Blew on it. Chewed and called it done-and delish! I spooned it into a shallow 9x12 dish so it would cool faster and not cook more—no self-respecting cook wants over-cooked barley-quinoa blend—and went on about my way.
What the heck is quinoa—pronounced keen-wha! as in “how cool is this”—anyway? How come I had never heard of it until recently? It’s like those mysterious fish species that suddenly show up and fall off restaurant menus. Where have all the orange roughy gone?/Long time passing/How did all the tilapia and monk fish come?/Not long ago-oooooo/Oh will I ever learn?/O will I ev-ver learn… I’d never actually, for sure, definitively, held a quinoa, let alone cooked one before. Yes! of course, I’d eaten them (it?)… But always mixed in something else, usually a medley of grains, herbs and chopped veggies. So how was I to know what it (they?) would look like cooked?
Curtis moseyed into the kitchen around hungry time. While he was making his sandwich, he gave the dish of barley-quinoa, fiber & protein-enriched goodness a few stirs (and maybe a taste test or two) . . . it was after that that I took a good—then better—look.
Maybe when it (they?) cook, quinoa balls split apart and turn into little squiggles that look like half parenthesis or fingernail clippings? And maybe not . . .
Maybe quinoa stays in perfect tiny protein packed ball-shapes. And what, upon closer inspection, looked like baby pearl barley were (was?) quinoa. In that case . . .
What were those cute little half-parenthesis or fingernail clipping looking squiggles? They definitely look like worms. And didn’t one or two of them wiggle? (Which, if they did means they can withstand boiling then simmering for 50 minutes and survivalists ought to collect them for analysis.)
Had I, unknowingly, prepared a super, doubly-protein packed blend? One I might be able to sell to Atkins aficionados? Or, with a little effort, identify the optimal barley worm cultivating environment much the same way the Asmat of Papua have learned to cultivate sego palm worms. The WHO would surely award me some kind of metal for my efforts, wouldn’t they? (Not the musicians; the organization...although I wouldn’t mind meeting Roger-Baby.)
If this had been one of those power outage times when we operate by candlelight… or if I were in an unplug and tune in: let’s eat on the patio beneath the moon moods…or if we were in Papua or Pipette or some such exotic-sounding protein-deficient locale, that batch of super protein packed barley-worm-quinoa blend might well have been dressed, served and joyfully consumed.
But it wasn’t, I’m not, and we don’t—not that there’s anything wrong with it.
- Need a Protein Boost?-Look Closer . . .
SO FAR AND YET SO CLOSE . . .
** I can’t just push on with my usual day and let my guests fend for themselves, can I? Especially not in Trinidad where they can’t drive, the only place close enough to walk to is the mall—or around in a circle, and if they leave the building without a “fob” (of which there are only 2) they’ll be locked out forever and have to sleep under a car and catch a long green lawn lizard for lunch . . . What sort of host would that brand me?
Recently . . . okay, last October, sis-in-law Marilyn came to visit. I placed the TT Travel Guide on her bedside table, handed her a pad of sticky-notes and told her we could go anywhere in the book she wanted. (Being new to Trinidad myself, I’d never been anywhere in the book, either, so it would be an adventure for both of us.)
Yes, I did warn Marilyn that I’d already suffered 2 flat tires, run out of gas and driven on the wrong side of the street more than once, as well as the wrong way down a one-way. . . Eternally “yar,” Marilyn rose to the challenge.
Our first few outings were timid enough: jaunts around town; up up up a scenic hill; over and around the mountains to the beach…on a narrow, shoulderless pitted roads . . . during a rainstorm. . . .
On the day of our last outing, Marilyn flipped to a sticky note which directed us South on the highway to a Hindu Temple, “Waterloo Temple in the Sea.” At high tide it’s surrounded by water; at low tide by mud flats. It serves as testament to Sewdas Sadhu, who built it, “single-handedly”--spell check doesn't like this word apparently, it suggested: highhandedly, underhandedly, offhandedly, evenhandedly--over a 25 year period, by carrying stones on his bicycles and preparing and dumping bucket after bucket of concrete on the seafloor at low tide to build the foundation.
According to the book, the way to the temple seemed fairly straight forward---it was NOT! Others might have been tempted to turn back. Not us! If Sadhu could do what he did, we could, with air-conditioned confidence, find it!
Good thing we passed a “doubles” vendor on the side of the road, and hostess mindedness—and tummy growls—compelled me to crank a U-turn so Marilyn could try one of these fist-sized gloppy curried chick peas-drizzled-with-chutney-cucumber-and-pepper sauce (if desired)-sandwiched in fry bread morsels or we might still be looking . . .
It was low tide and the scene around the temple island was mudflat and religious relics mired in muck. Not the most photogenic, but inspiring none-the-less as they reminded Marilyn of something more she’d read in the guide book—the Chaguananas Pottery makers, where red clay is fashioned into all manner of pottery and fired in open wood-fueled kilns.
Although Southeast Asia is far from Trinidad—on the other side of the world--our visit to Benny’s Pottery Works, “the oldest and most famous” of the traditional pottery workshops transported me right back to Java or India or Nepal. . . The methods are the same. The workers possess the same wiry builds, same stance with cigarettes dangling from their mouth, same quickness and expertise.
So far and yet close . . .
*I’ll only say this one time, never again, and only way down here at the bottom of the post. So if you’ve read this far, this is to you: Forgive me for slacking on the blogging. Truth is I've been so busy "filling my writer's well" (as my friend Richard Harnett puts it) I haven't taken time to blog. Stick with me, I'll be better about it, promise???
LET'S GO RAMBLING BLOG TOUR 2012 AWARD CEREMONY
LGRBT 2012, LET'S GO RAMBLING BLOG TOUR launching my new picture book, One Day I Went Rambling, illustrated by Terri Murphy (published by Bright Sky Press) culminated yesterday at with the LGRBT AWARD CEREMONY.
A couple of couple of handsome friends, Pucia & Brujita, drew the WINNERS of our LGRBT Cool Prize Giveaway. ONE DAY I WENT RAMBLING's talented illustrator of and blog tour organizer extraordinaire, Terri Murphy, recorded the festive finale on U-TUBE. WATCH THE AWARD CEREMONY HERE: And the WINNER IS...
Huge thanks to our blogger friends who hosted and toasted and boasted (not roasted) us and ONE DAY I WENT RAMBLING.
LET'S GO RAMBLING BLOG TOUR STOPS:
June 8: “Author School Visits BY STATE!” Illustrator Interview by Kim Normanhttp://stonestoop.blogspot.com/2012/06/pleasant-ramble-with-illustrator-terri.html
- “Kim Norman’s School Visit & Author Blog” Book Review by Kim Normanhttp://www.kimnormanbooks.com/www.kimnormanbooks.com/Blog/Entries/2012/6/8_REVIEW__One_Day_I_Went_Rambling.html
- “Andi Butler Studio & Workshop Chicago” Book Review by Andi Bulter www.blog.andibutler.com/?p=1620
- “Picture Book Depot” Book Review by Rita Lorraine picturebookdepot.com/review/one-day-i-went-rambling
- “Meandering Lane” Shout Out by Lindsey Lane www.lindseylane.net/blog/2012/06/lets-go-rambling/
June 9: “Simple Saturday” Book Review by Debbie Gonzales http://www.debbiegonzales.com/simple-saturday/2012/6/8/things-to-love-about-one-day-i-went-a-rambling.html
June 10: “Vonna Carter.com” Author Interview by Vonna Carter http://vonnacarter.com/wordpress/?p=7783
June 12: “Little Deb’s Doodling” Book Review by Debbie Meyer http://www.thelittledeb.blogspot.com/2012/06/one-day-i-went-rambling.html#links
June 13: “Four Thousand Sentences to Go” Book Review & Author Interview by Cindy Faughnan http://www.cindyfaughnan.com/faughnan/index.php/4000-sentences/item/37-picture-book-one-day-i-went-rambling
June 14:
- “Conjuring Tales for Young Minds” Book review by Susan Kaye Quinn www.susankayequinn.com/.../new-release-one-day-i-went-ram...
- “The Story Continues -- The Writer's Plot” Book Review by Pam Zollman http://www.thewritersplot.com/news/2012/6/kelly-bennetts-newest-picture-book-one-day-i-went-rambling
- “Kissing the Earth” Author & Illustrator Chat with Sharry Wright and Tam Smith http://www.smithwright.blogspot.com/2012/06/one-day-i-went-rambling.html
- “ReaderKidZ” Book Review with Teaching Guide by Debbie Gonzales http://www.readerkidz.com/2012/06/14/one-day-i-went-rambling-giveaway/
June15:
- “Hurt the Bunnies” Shout out from Pam Zollman http://www.pamzollman.com/2012/06/kelly-bennetts-newest-picture-book-one.html
- “One Word at a Time" Carmen Oliver rambles from the dunes of Lake Winnipeg http://carmen-oliver.blogspot.com/2012/06/one-day-i-went-rambling.html
June 16: “On My Mind” Illustrator Interview with Alison Hertz http://www.alisonhertz.blogspot.com/2012/06/new-picture-book-one-day-i-went.html
June 17: “Writing on the Sidewalk” Author & Illustrator Interview with Sarah Tomp http://writingonthesidewalk.wordpress.com/2012/06/17/one-day-i-went-rambling-by-kelly-bennett-illustrated-by-terri-murphy/
June 18: "San Francisco/Sacramento Book Review" Book Review by Tammy McCartney http://citybookreview.com/2012/06/one-day-i-went-rambling/
June 19:
- “Cherie Colyer” Illustrator Interview with Cherie Colyer http://www.cheriecolyer.blogspot.com/2012/06/book-tour-once-day-i-went-rambling.html
- “More Letters From the Messy Desk” Blue Willow Bookshop’s Blog Book Review http://blog.bluewillowbookshop.com/?tag=one-day-i-went-rambling
June 20: “Kids EBook Bestsellers.com” Author Interview with Karleen Tauszik http://www.kidsebookbestsellers.com/2012/06/rambling-through-cyberspace-with-kelly.html
June 22: “Michelle Kogan Illustration, Painting & Writing” Illustrator Interview by Michelle Kogan http://moreart4all.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/terri-murphys-journey-of-a-picture-book-one-day-i-went-rambling/
Thank you to everyone who joined, liked, shared stories, blogged, tweeted, twittered, chirped, chime-in. . . RAMBLED ALONG!
If you're wanting a creativity boost, the whole long and winding ramble is on the LGRBT 2012 Facebook Page
Rambling On About Rocky Road...
We’re a little late, but since we’re Rambling by way of celebrating One Day I Went Rambling--which sometimes happens on Roads, and in my family, with Ice Cream--why not treat ourselves? Grab a sweater (don’t forget the jingle) and let’s go get us some!
Nanny, my grandmother, was always up for an evening walk. She’d grab a sweater (cause it “might get chilly”) stuff her pockets with tissue and jingle, and we’d set out. Our first stop was usually just up the street to pick up Nanny's sister, Aunt Evelyn. Ostensibly these walks were to check out neighborhood garden, see who'd painted, put their house up for sale or sold. A corner cottage on a wedge of land was the home of an artist, so we'd make a point of walking past to see her latest painting on display in her front window. Regardless of which direction we set out or the number of twists and turns along the way, by unspoken agreement we’d stop for ice cream. Depending on whether we set out on a walk, a long walk, or a longer walk, we had a choice of three: if we needed supplies and/or popsicles tickled our taste buds, we'd make our way to the grocery at Valley Center; a long walk led to Dairy Queen for Buster or Dilly bars; a longer walk led to Freedom Center and the proper ice cream counter. Given the choice, my mother always chose Rocky Road. Where it began: William Dreyer invented"Rocky Road" flavored ice cream in 1929. Before then most settled for chocolate, vanilla, strawberry or other fruit flavors. Some thought Dryer was nuts: Why go mucking up creamy ice cream by adding "mix-ins'? Unheard of! Scandalous! The Holiday Insights website (http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/June/rockyroadday.htm) says Rocky Road ice cream was a very popular treat during the Great Depression (Wonder if that poll was taken at a Bread Line...)
Rocky Road Day is always celebrated on June 2nd. We’re a little late, but hey! Since we’re Rambling by way of celebrating One Day I Went Rambling--which sometimes happens on Roads, and in my family, with Ice Cream--why not treat ourselves? Grab a sweater (don’t forget the jingle) and let’s go get us some!
If Rocky Road Ice Cream isn’t available, you can make your own. Just add chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts are our favorite), marshmallows and chocolate chunks (broken candy bar or chocolate chips) to softened ice cream (usually chocolate, but any flavor works—it’s your road, claim it!)
Or, skip the ice cream and cook up at slab of Rocky Road Squares. Here’s how:
Rocky Road Squares Recipe
This candy is quick and easy to make. The only problem with this candy, is resisting the temptation to eat too many of them.
Yield: 2 pounds
________________________________________
Rocky Road Squares Ingredients:
• 11 1/2 ounces milk chocolate morsels
• 4 cups mini marshmallows
• 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
________________________________________
How to make Rocky Road Squares:
1. In a saucepan, slowly melt chocolate on low heat.
2. Stir constantly to avoid scorching and burning the chocolate.
3. Remove from heat and beat until smooth.
4. Stir in marshmallows and walnuts.
5. Spread mixture out in a buttered pan.
6. Chill to harden.
7. Remove from refrigerator and cut into squares.
This recipe was posted on the Holiday Insights website: http://holidayinsights.com/recipes/rockyroad.htm