Caramel corn

I don’t normally share recipes I’ve only made once but. . .this one was really good! Our Sunday evening supper is often popcorn and a movie, and this past Sunday I decided to find a caramel corn recipe that didn’t use corn syrup. I ended up at this blog post, but actually decided to use the following recipe which was shared further down in the comments:

20 cups popped popcorn
3/4 cup honey OR maple syrup
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted peanuts or 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds (optional)

Remove unpopped kernels from popped corn and put in a very large mixing bowl. Combine honey or maple syrup and butter in a 1 1/2-quart saucepan. Cook and stir over moderate heat until butter melts and mixture boils. Boil, without stirring, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla, baking soda and salt. Pour over popcorn and gently stir to coat popcorn. Spread popcorn mixture on two baking sheets. Sprinkle with peanuts and/or seeds, if desired. Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes; stirring every 6 to 8 minutes. Remove corn to a large bowl; cool.

Yummy! I used maple syrup because I actually had some on hand; I’ll probably try honey next time as I always have that. I also substituted pecans for the nuts.

Oh, and as for the movie: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I had just finished reading the book aloud to Silly Boy earlier in the afternoon and so he asked to watch the movie. I want to like the Harry Potter movies, and they are fun viewing. But they lack the depth that makes the books worth reading and rereading. Important scenes were omitted to leave screen time for scenes that made use of more special effects. More critical, though, is that the movie characters seem to have no free will: they do the right thing without wrestling with good and evil and what the right thing is. Take away that inner conflict, and all that remains is a cleverly created world populated by stereotypical characters.

Scotland the Brave

I believe I’ve already mentioned it, but after our study of New Zealand we moved on to Scotland. As before, we started with the Around the World study from Knowledge Quest before heading to the library for more books. Thankfully this time the selection was much better. Phew!

Baby Boy is excited about breakfast!

We started with a couple of picture books, Little Toot and the Loch Ness Monster (Hardie Gramatky) and The Magic Bagpipe (Gerry & George Armstrong). From there we moved on to Macbeth (Shakespeare, retold by Adam McKeown), but I’ve already told you about that. At the same time we slowly picked our way through Scotland (Enchantment of the World series): dull in spots, but a decent overview of the history and culture. I also picked up The Illustrated History of Scotland (Chris Tabraham) for my own reading, so I was able to share interesting facts and gorgeous pictures from this book as I was reading the other book aloud. Our final read aloud was Girl in a Cage (Jane Yolen & Robert Harris) which is a historical fiction account of Marjorie, daughter of Robert the Bruce. I found it fascinating–as for the boys, let’s just say that they didn’t complain about listening. At least. . .not much.

Boy Genius and Silly Boy are ready for lunch.

We were very lucky–as in, I couldn’t have planned this one if I tried! You see, during our study, the Celtic folk duo Men of Worth performed in our area. You can read more about them at their website, or you can watch this short promotional video: Men of Worth. After enjoying the concert, we spent quite a bit of time listening to other Scottish folk music on YouTube. We also watched videos of the Highland Fling, of Scottish sword dancing (ah–now that got the boys’ attention!), and of bagpipes. We ordered a couple movies from Netflix. Twirly Girl enjoyed Brigadoon; the boys did not. Greyfriars Bobby went over better but still was not a favorite; with hindsight I wonder if I should have gotten the newer movie rather than the 1960ish Sunday night Disney version.

Toad-in-the-Hole

I didn’t give a writing assignment this time, but all five students spent a morning labeling a blank map of Scotland. The younger boys labeled seas and island groups and large cities; the older kids also labeled lochs and firths and more cities. The older three also added Scottish dates to their timelines, choosing those that interested them from the timeline included in The Illustrated History of Scotland.

Twirly Girl loves her tea.

Finally, as you may have guessed from today’s pictures, we wrapped up our unit yesterday with the foods of Scotland. I don’t know that we had traditional Scottish meals, but rather we chose Scottish foods that appealed to us. . .and there were enough that we spread them out through the day instead of a single meal. Nearly all the recipes came from this index, with only two exceptions: I used my own almond flour scone recipe, and my first batch of bannocks fell apart so I had to Google for help in a hurry.

The kids vetoed porridge for breakfast in favor of a traditional Scottish breakfast, albeit a very simplified version. I only added bannocks/oatcakes to a breakfast of bacon and fried eggs (farm fresh–yummy!). Our lunch menu gave me some problems–Drama Boy had chosen a salmon dish with a whiskey sauce, but the grocery only had smoked salmon. I simply sliced it and served it alongside the rumbledethumps (a potato-cabbage dish). I’m sure it’s no surprise that caramel (millionaire’s) shortbread was the dessert of choice! We opted for high tea in the early evening–although most of the boys drank water. For our hot dish I made toad-in-the-hole and also served scones (and the leftover bannocks) with butter and jam.

Re-

While there’s nothing wrong with enjoying something just once, it seems to me that the best things in life are usually worth repeating. Some of my favorites to. . .

Re-read, finding different words to enjoy each time:

• the Bible, especially Psalms and Isaiah
• Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
• Little Women  by Louisa May Alcott
• Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace

Re-sing until I know the words by heart, and then keep on singing:

• We Praise You and Acknowledge You (LSB 941)
• Jerusalem the Golden (TLH 613)
• All Depends on Our Possessing (TLH 425)

Re-watch until I can quote (and sing) along:

• 1776
• The Great Race
• Fiddler on the Roof
• The Sound of Music

Re-runs worth watching and laughing again:

• As Time Goes By
• M*A*S*H
• Home Improvement

What are some of your favorite things to enjoy over and over (and over) again?

Putzing

I can’t even call it slow and steady, the rate at which I’ve been working on my coat. Yesterday Larry took the kids to a homeschool activity, and I decided to use the quiet to cut out my coat. I also decided to watch my Netflix movie, Titanic, which never having seen it before may or may not have contributed to my only getting it partly cut out. Actually I was trying to figure out why I had never watched it, but I would have been busy nursing a baby Drama Boy when it was in theaters and then it received so much hype that I assumed I would not like it. (Did I like the movie? Yes and no. Yes in that I now want to read more about what happened that night in 1912, and no in that I probably will not watch it again.)

But I digress. Yesterday I cut out most of the wool. Today I cut out the last few pieces of wool, the rayon lining, and the Thinsulate interlining. The next step is to cut out the interfacing and fuse it in place–one of those necessary sewing tasks which I do not enjoy. However, Playmobil-land was blocking my ironing board so I came upstairs to bake a coffee cake instead.

Today I received the silk thread I had ordered from Sew True last week. This means I am officially out of real excuses to procrastinate.

HP7

Tonight Larry and I actually went on a date. Together. With no kids. This was the longest we’ve left Drama Boy in charge, and according to my spy (Twirly Girl) the boys were reasonably well behaved. Phew. . .

As you’ve probably guess from my title, we went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows–Part 1. This isn’t going to be a regular review because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet (even if they have read the book and already know the ending!). As a general rule I have a love-hate relationship with the Harry Potter movies: I love seeing the story brought to life on screen and I hate some of the changes made between novel and screenplay. But the seventh movie remained truer to the novel than most of the others and I did not find myself thinking “if they spent less time on this unimportant scene, they could have included these other scenes.” There were however times that I mentally filled in the blanks, or noticed things that would be meaningless to viewers who are not also readers but I think that is to be expected when condensing a long novel into a feature length movie (or even two). I imagine that movie fans who are not inclined to read the books will not mind. . .although as a confirmed bookworm, I can’t help but shake my head at such a thought!

Family entertainment

It’s always a challenge to find movies or television shows that children enjoy and that don’t put their parents to sleep. It becomes even more challenging when you have a wide age range of children. The big brothers tend to forget that Dad and Mom watched endless rounds of Veggie Tales’ Where’s God When I’m S-s-scared? with them in their younger days, and thus they are unhappy that the little brothers aren’t yet old enough to watch Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone.

The easy answer might be to watch movies in shifts, but easy is not always better. Here in Neverland, Friday night is family movie night. I suppose we could go into different rooms with different screens–big boys, little boys, girls–but then it isn’t a family event. Instead, the children take turns (youngest to oldest) choosing the Friday night movie. Since we moved and no longer have much selection from the library, we’ve set up a Netflix queue for this purpose. Some of their selections are. . .better. . .than others (although all must be parent-approved as they don’t know the password). The older boys occasionally choose a movie with a PG rating, but then we watch a movie from our own collection on Friday night and find another time for them to watch without little eyes in the room.

The most recent addition to our dvd collection is a complete set of The Waltons (purchased with Christmas money–thanks Larry and Diane! ). It actually started when Gina and I were discussing 1930s styles, and she mentioned Olivia Walton. I realized I had never actually watched The Waltons, so I added Season 1 to my queue. Larry and I watched the first five episodes together and then he had to work late so I watched the next episode with Twirly Girl. She enjoyed it enough that when the next dvd arrived, we decided to watch it as a family. That went over so well that we continued watching together and eventually bought our own set for more flexible viewing.

Life is Beautiful

I’ve been watching more movies lately as I’ve shifted from sewing to knitting in the evenings, at least on the evenings there is no adult conversation to be found. My most recent flick was Life is Beautiful, recommended to me by Netflix. . .and recommended to you by me. My Italian is limited to buon giorno, arrivederci, and the names of my favorite pastas, so I went for the dubbed English; if I hadn’t been knitting I might have watched the original Italian with English subtitles.

The storyline is neatly divided in two parts. The first half is a romantic comedy set in late 1930s Italy, with the struggling waiter Guido meeting the “princess” Dora quite by accident. He falls in love with her and manages to create future accidental meetings until the feeling becomes mutual. With the advantage of hindsight, it is clear that the story takes place on the eve of World War II, although it is well into the movie that we find out Guido is Jewish.

Several years pass offstage, and now Guido and Dora are married with a young son named Joshua. Guido finally has his own bookshop, but the effects of the war are seen everywhere. . .except in Joshua’s eyes. Even when Guido and Joshua are herded onto the train to the concentration camp, the father manages to create a sense of happiness for his son. He tells them that they are playing a game where points are tallied daily and the grand prize is a tank. Guido’s part is to work long and hard every day; Joshua earns his points by not complaining and hiding from the guards.

In reading reviews of this movie, it seems viewers either love or hate it. Some point out that real concentration camps were a far grimmer place, and that is true, but it is still clear the camp is not a happy place outside Joshua’s mind. Men and women are segregated, with the men spending their days in intense physical labor. The guards are stern and omnipresent while food is sparse. The children and the elderly, including Guido’s uncle, are lured to the gas chamber by promise of a shower soon after their arrival at the camp. But this movie is not so much about the atrocities of reality as it is about the alternate reality a father creates to protect his young son. And the lead actor’s comic abilities are well suited to do just that without trivializing the Holocaust.

We like Harry

Harry Potter started flying off bookshelves and into children’s lives during the years that I wasn’t paying much attention to juvenile fiction. I had already received my B.A. in English with a focus on children’s literature and was no longer spending my summers working in the children’s department of the local library. I was a mother, but at the time I was busy introducing my children to characters such as Madeline, Peter Rabbit, and Christopher Robin.

So it was that I didn’t take much notice of J. K. Rowling’s series of books until Drama Boy started reading them about three years ago. I still didn’t really pay attention, even when Boy Genius began the series as well. I knew there were some Christians who objected to the magic in the books, but I didn’t have much reading time and fantasy is not a genre I particularly enjoy. Larry was listening to the audio version with the boys while they ran their paper route so I left it to him to discuss any elements that needed discussing.

Fast forward to this spring, when I was waiting for someone in the van and saw that Drama Boy had left Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone (the first book in the series of seven) in the front seat. Never one to resist a book, I reluctantly picked it up and started reading. And was hooked. I still don’t care for fantasy as a genre, but I was impressed by Rowling’s writing in general and the development of characters (and their imaginary world) in particular. One book led to another, and pretty soon I had devoured the entire series.

In the meanwhile, Boy Genius resumed reading (he had never gotten past the Prisoner of Azkaban) and Twirly Girl started reading. As I read, I did decide to set some age guidelines because I felt some of the scenes in the later books are rather intense for my younger kids. Even with those restrictions, suddenly all three older children had something in common with each other–and with me (and Larry). I finally understood some of the things that Drama Boy had been saying and doing for years, and meanwhile the kids set up a Quidditch field in the back yard and made their own wands so they could work on their Patronus charms.

As for the ever-popular movies, the most recent of which was released last week, we’ve held to our standard movie rule:

You must read the book before you can watch the movie.

The boys had already purchased and watched the first three movies; Larry and I ended up buying the next two (which are rated PG-13) when I became possessed with the urge to watch all five before attending Half Blood Prince. We had hoped to attend the midnight showing last Wednesday, just for fun, but were unable to find a babysitter at that hour. We settled for going Wednesday evening, which is just as well because enough caffeine to keep me awake until 3am is not a good thing. We both enjoyed the movie very much, more so as we couldn’t remember the last time we went to a movie just the two of us, but even so my standard movie review applies:

The book is always better than the movie.

Miss Potter

I can’t remember when or why I put Miss Potter in my Netflix queue, but I’m very glad I did. I watched it while sewing one evening last week and then again on Sunday afternoon with Twirly Girl, thinking she might also enjoy this film (she did).

I don’t know how many liberties were taken with the life of Beatrix Potter. The script largely follows her entrance into the world of being a published author and includes a healthy helping of chaste romance (you may want to keep a hanky handy). The main storyline as well as the occasional flashbacks show her at odds with her parents as well as the Victorian world about her. There are also a number of whimsical animated sequences involving Peter Rabbit and his friends that serve as our window into Beatrix’s mind.

As an aside (to amuse those who know I seldom can tell one actor from another), Lloyd Owen plays a role in this movie. I only recognize him because he was Paul in Monarch of the Glen. . .and I only mention it because he happens to be easy on the eyes (and ears, come to think of it).

Rainy day

We don’t normally allow movie watching on weekdays, but this morning it is raining and the big kids are at the library’s summer reading program. A couple little boys were miffed at not being old enough, so I told them if their rooms were clean they could watch a movie.

It looks like Baby Boy isn’t too impressed by Silly Boy’s favorite movie, Cars; when I went down to check on them he was fast asleep in Twirly Girl’s beanbag chair. Bouncy Boy, in the middle, is awake, he’s just very mellow. “Hey, was that floating like a Cadillac or stinging like a Beamer? I’m confused.”