Not a graham cracker in sight

Ashley over at Not Without Salt posted this intriguing, mouth-watering recipe for an Applejack Rabbit cocktail, circa 1965. The photo is tantalizing, no? Ashley takes amazing pictures:

And I'll bet it tastes a lot better than my now-notorious crappy pumpkintini.

Here's another:

Calvados is one of my favorite beverages. A few years ago, I went to dinner with a bartender friend of mine and I ordered an apple crumble for dessert. I wanted an after-dinner drink. Damon heartily recommended the Calvados with the apple crumble, particularly when he discovered I had never tried the brandy. It was a sublime combination: stout, sweet, and invoking autum in all its glory. I can't say enough good things about it.

Eat, drink, and discover Calvados on a cool autumn evening.

Book Blogger Holiday Swap

I read about this first at Presenting Lenore, followed by GreenBeanTeenQueen - they're both participating. It sounded like an absolute hoot to me so I signed up.

Go to the holiday swap official website to sign up - you only have until November 12th!

"One thing's for sure, we're all gonna be a lot thinner!"

No words can describe my love and affection for these bookends:

I would go so far as to say that my day just got infinitely better, knowing these exist in the world.

Thanks to ALA Direct and Oddee for bringing them into my life.

Blogging and drinking: these are a few of my favorite things!

I'm thrilled to see some of my favorite ladies on the cover of School Library Journal this month:

Betsy Bird (Fuse #8), Liz Burns (A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy), Monica Edinger (Educating Alice), Cheryl Klein (Brooklyn Arden), and Jen Hubert Swan (Reading Rants!). You all look gorgeous!

And check out the accompanying article!

Eat, drink, and cheers to my blogging cohorts!

"Books Unmasked"

Think you know kids' books? Think you can't get stumped by a quiz? Then go check out Sarah Miller's post on books without their "costumes." I sucked at it.

SCBWI Winter Conference

I just read about the SCBWI Winter Conference registration over at Lee Wind's blog I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell Do I Read?

As someone who has begun writing a book, works in publishing, and generally loves children's literature, I'm thinking it might behoove me to attend this shindig. But I don't really know what to expect.

Can anyone give me the inside scoop? If you've been to a SCBWI conference before, let me know your thoughts. What did you get out of it? What is to be gained by attending?

Illustrator Magic

I am not an artist. That needs to be disclosed right off the bat.

But that does not prevent from appreciating this:

This is from Matt Phelan's blog, Planet Ham. Like I said, I don't know anything about drawing, but it seems that capturing this sort of action would be really difficult for an artist. The sense of movement is completely gorgeous - I can just envision, a second after this moment was captured, the boy catching the football and cheering, a big smile on his face.

It's so simple and yet, out of this, I get childhood, innocence, summer, joy, laughter. And I love the ability of an artist and an illustrator to make me feel that way. Bravo to Matt!

This Week's Menu: Food as Life

I've had one of *those* weeks. You know the ones. First, I was sick so I missed lots of work and sat around the house. Second, I had to make some difficult Life Decisions - those choices where you know the answer but you hesitate to take that leap. These Decisions aren't easy to make and are the cause of many, many tears...yet when the choice is made, you feel lighter inside. Anyway, I had to make one of those Decisions. Last, because I was out of town last weekend, I didn't do any food shopping for this past week...so you can't imagine the haphazard, crappy way we ate this whole week. It made me feel discombobulated and out-of-sorts.

So today I made the menu for the upcoming week. Here it is:

Saturday - Penne with Vodka Sauce

Sunday - Goat Cheese Tart, green salad (tart recipe from The French Market)

Monday - Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup, ciabatta bread with dipping oil

Tuesday - Mustard Pork Chops with gnocchi

Wednesday - Blue Cheese Pasta (from Real Fast Food)

Thursday - Grilled cheese sandwiches, red pepper soup

When I looked at the menu, I realized what I had done unconsciously: I had created a healing menu. These are comforting foods, unapologetic in their warmth and simplicity. And I love the power of food - and the prospect of sharing it with my family - to make me feel better.

Eat, drink, and find comfort.