Books I Want to Read This Spring

I'm joining in on Anne's My Own Books Reading Challenge this spring. I've done here what Anne has asked and placed the names of ten of my own books on pieces of paper. Then I drew the reading order. My goal is to try to read these ten books by May 15th. That gives me two months.

Here is what I plan to read:

#1 A Gentleman in Moscow by Amos Towles

#2 Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

#3 Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland

#4 The Wonderful "O" by James Thurber

#5 An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

#6 Circe by Madeline Miller

#7 Salt to the Sea by Ruth Sepetys

#8 Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

#9 North American Pirates and Their Lost Treasure by W. C. Jameson

#10 La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini

Of course, who knows what I will bring home that is fresh and exciting from the library conference in April and from BookExpo in May?! And who knows what lovely books publishers and authors will convince me to try this spring?!

What are you hoping to read this spring?

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.

Cooking Class

Last summer I took an Italian cooking class.

It was at the Catholic Church.

It was free.

Chef Angelo taught the class.

He was a chef for many, many years.

He was born in Italy.

Chef often stopped us and shared his tips for good cooking.

Chef put olive oil and garlic and lots of salt in everything.

Sometimes we added an extra ingredient.

We made lots of amazing food that week.

I hope I can take this class again next summer.

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky at West Metro Mommy Reads.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

I Go to My Homeland: Lucca, Italy

How many years have I dreamed of going to Lucca, Italy? 

This summer I made it.

Here is a picture of my sister and me after we arrive on the train.

There is a wall all around Lucca.

It was once used for protection.

Now it is mainly used by joggers and bike riders.

Here we are, riding around the wall of Lucca on our bicycles.

Later we spend a lot of time walking. 

Much of the streets look like they are paved with kitchen tile.

The streets are narrow.

There is art everywhere.

The doors and windows can be quite massive.

Sometimes we rest.

I hope I can go back to Lucca some day.

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky at West Metro Mommy Reads.

A Wine Tour in Tuscany, on Bicycles

"It's a Level Two bike ride," my sister told me when we were first talking about booking a wine tour on bikes in Tuscany. 

"We can probably do that," I told her.

And then I saw the bike. The bike fell over when I was trying to lift the kickstand. I put the helmet on backwards. Not an auspicious start.

Up hills. Down hills. Beautiful overlooks. Tuscany. A magnificent day.

And the wine. Oh my. The wine. Lots of stops for wine.

We saw some beautiful wine cellars. 

We had time to visit a church or two.

One fine sommelier taught me quite a bit about wine. Of course I had a lot to learn.

Look at the view from one overlook.

Yes, I was last in line. Yes, I might have been several miles behind the others. Yes, I barely made it up the last hill. But I did make it, and I did finish, and it was glorious. What a wonderful day, on a wine tour, in Tuscany, on bicycles.

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky at West Metro Mommy Reads.

I'm Back from Italy and Everything Has Changed

I'M BACK FROM ITALY

I'm still exhausted from that mind-blowingly-long flight home, of course, but I'm starting to process our two week trip to another way of life. Italians still have their center right on family and friends and food and that deep enjoyment of everyday life, and I want to bring that back into my new life.

Here are some truths I want to keep with me:

1. Biting into a big red tomato doesn't have to be a disappointment.

Biting into a big red tomato was a glorious experience in Italy. Every single time. Are we really adding big red tomatoes to our salads and pizzas and hamburgers just for a splash of color? I want more from my tomatoes.

2. Work is important, but it isn't everything.

Americans work an average of 47 hours per week. Workers in Italy work an average of 38.8 hours. You do the math.

3. Savor.

No one came to my table in Italy five seconds after I ate my last bite of food and said, "Through with this plate?"

4. People.

Social media adds a delightful dimension to life (I wouldn't be talking with you right now if not for it) but it can also be a huge distraction. People. I want to focus on people. If it's not connecting me to others, it may need to go.

I'm still thinking about all these things.


EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED

I know about seismic life transitions, but it's been a long time since I actually experienced childbirth or marriage or getting a job. Now I'm head-first into some big ones. I have retired from the most wonderful job in the world, working as a primary school librarian. My husband has also retired. After working for forty-four years in various aspects of civil engineering, he will now be at home with me every day.

It's an opportunity to create our days for ourselves.

It's enormously exciting. It's enormously scary.

What are you reading today?

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them,and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....That's what happens at the Sunday Salon, except it's all virtual. Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week's Salon get together--at their separate desks, in their own particular time zones--and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another's blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly, mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one's earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book. Click here to join the Salon.

The Sunday Post is a meme hosted by Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It's a chance to share news and recap the past week.

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share books that we found in our mailboxes last week. 

 It is now being hosted here.

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews in which you can share the books you've acquired.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from! I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is now being hosted at The Book Date.

Ciao, Friends

No, we are not there yet, but we leave this week. I'm wildly and imperfectly trying to pack and bring all my library things home from school and get things ready here, so I won't be around the blogosphere much today or in upcoming days, but I promise to visit everyone who stops in at Readerbuzz in my absence when I return.

In lieu of new posts, I'll be posting 2017 and 2016 BookExpo for the next two weeks. I have never posted them on my blog, so I thought it would be fun to run them here while I'm off in Italy.

Ciao, friends. Arrivaderci.

Pizza Any Way You Slice It

I've now tried three different for pizza from three different cookbooks. This one would probably appeal the most to American readers accustomed to American pizza. 

Here's the recipe:

Neapolitan Style Pizza Dough

Total:

3 hr 40 min

Prep:

3 hr 30 min

Cook:

10 min

Yield:

4, 9 to 10 inch pizzas

Level:

Easy

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 1/4 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
• 1 cup cake flour (not self rising)
• 2 1/2 to 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• Olive oil for the bowl

Directions

Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let stand for 1 minute, or until the yeast is creamy. Stir until the yeast dissolves.

In a large bowl, combine the cake flour, 2 1/2 cups of the all purpose flour, and the salt. Add the yeast mixture and stir until a soft dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding more flour if necessary, until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.

Lightly coat another large bowl with oil. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to oil the top. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft free place and let rise until doubled in bulk; about 1 1/2 hours.

Flatten the dough with your fist. Cut the dough into 2 to 4 pieces and shape the pieces into balls. Dust the tops with flour. Place the balls on a floured surface and cover each with plastic wrap, allowing room for the dough to expand. Let rise 60 to 90 minutes, or until doubled.

Thirty to sixty minutes before baking the pizzas, place a baking stone or unglazed quarry tiles on a rack in the lowest level of the oven. Turn on the oven to the maximum temperature, 500 to 550 degrees F.

Shape and bake pizzas in desired fashion.

None of the pizza recipes I've tried are difficult. None of them require odd, difficult-to-find ingredients. None of them take a lot of time to make. 

But somehow that's the perception of making pizza yourself.

I encourage you to try handmade pizza. Jump in. You will see it is much easier and more delicious than what you buy.

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky at West Metro Mommy Reads.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

Twelve Bags of Chocolate Chips, Housekeeping, and A Traveller in Italy

RANDOM WHINING AND MOANING

I'm trying not to feel overwhelmed. But it's the end of the year in my school library, and I have five tables of books to put away (imagine five tables covered with stacks of books so tall they are about to fall over), at least ten more after school hours of inventory to complete, and a bum thumb.

It will all get done. It will all get done. It will all get done.

Or not.

I'm doing the best I can.

As for today, here's what I must accomplish:

Yes, I agree. That's a lot of chocolate chips. I need to get busy making my award-winning* chocolate chip cookies for our Chapter Book Club Picnic...I'm estimating that I need about 15 dozen.

WHAT I'M READING

I'm hunkering through Housekeeping. I loved Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. I loved Home by Marilynne Robinson. I loved Lila by Marilynne Robinson. Housekeeping? Not so much. But it's a book group read, so on I trudge.

I've also been busy at Overdrive downloading books I can read while I am in Italy. 

I'm also working my way through A Traveller in Italy. This is a delight. It's a pleasure. However, it's also 640 pages, so I'm not sure I'll get through Traveller in Italy before I'm an actual traveller in Italy.

What are you reading today?

*Truth in advertising: My recipe for chocolate chip cookies won second prize at my local Wal-Mart in 1990. I received a hand mixer. I still use this mixer.

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them,and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....That's what happens at the Sunday Salon, except it's all virtual. Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week's Salon get together--at their separate desks, in their own particular time zones--and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another's blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly, mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one's earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book. Click here to join the Salon.

The Sunday Post is a meme hosted by Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It's a chance to share news and recap the past week.

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share books that we found in our mailboxes last week. 

 It is now being hosted here.

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews in which you can share the books you've acquired.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from! I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is now being hosted at The Book Date.

The Italian Baker: Schiacciata alla Fiorentina (Flatbread from Florence)

"Bread is merely flour, water, yeast, and salt as the world is merely earth, water, fire, and air."

Carol Field in The Italian Baker

Carol Field offers up recipes of the Italian countryside in this book, including breads, pizza, pastries, cookies, and focaccia. I decided to try focaccia, something that Field suggests has become the national dish. 

Field notes that focaccia is "simplicity itself," made from the herbs of the countryside, along with oil from Liguria, and garlic and olives. Sometimes there are variations with tomatoes or oregano, capers or anchovies, basil or sweet onions.

Schiacciata is the word Florentines use for the breads other Italians call focaccia. 

Here is the recipe I used:

Schiacciata alla Florentina

2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 1/2 cup warm water

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 1/2 tablespoons lard at room temperature

2 1/2 tablespoons of nonfat dry milk

3 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

By hand, stir the yeast into the warm water in a large mixing bowl; let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in the oil, lard, and dry milk. Mix in the flour and salt and make a well in the center. Pour the yeast mixture into the well and gradually stir the flour into the liquid. Stir until well combined. Knead on a floured surface until velvety and soft, about 8 to 10 minutes. The dough should be soft, so add any extra flour sparingly.

(I didn't have lard, so I substituted butter.)

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

Flatten the dough firmly on a lightly floured work surface and divide into two 8-ounce and one 10 1/2 ounce piece. Roll each piece into a ball and let rest under a towel for 15 minutes. Dimple and spread the balls with your fingers to cover the bottoms of two oiled 8-inch pie plates and one oiled 10-inch pie plate. Brush the tops with oil and sprinkle lightly with salt. 

(I had to use three 8-inch pie plates as I didn't have a 10-inch plate.)

Cover with a towel and let rise until doubled, about an hour.

Cover with one of the following toppings:

     2 red onions, thinly sliced and sautéed in 2 tablespoons of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of fresh basil

     or 3-4 fresh tomatoes, thinly sliced, sprinkled with chopped basil leaves and 3/4 teaspoon of salt

     or 2 yellow and/or red peppers, thinly sliced and lightly sautéed with a large garlic clove in 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil for 15 minutes; discard the garlic

     or 4-6 small zucchini, cut lengthwise into thin slices and lightly sautéed with 2 whole cloves of garlic in 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil; discard the garlic; sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh basil.

(I used tomatoes with fresh basil for one pizza, cheese for another, and pepperoni for a third. I liked the cheese and the tomato pizzas best)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Using baking stones, if possible (turn on oven 30 minutes before baking) and place the baking pans directly on the preheated stones. Bake the schiacciata 25-30 minutes. Serve hot.

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky at West Metro Mommy Reads.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.