Back to School Book Review & Giveaway

Grams has gone back to school this week. It's the second week of school here in South Texas and I've substituted four days in a row. That means I'm behind on everything. My laundry is not done. In fact, I'm down to wearing that underwear that I don't like to wear. (Admit it, you know you have some.) I had hoped to launch my Etsy store this weekend, but it's going to be a few more days because I haven't sewn a stitch this week. In the meantime, I've got a treat for you. 

Once again, Grams is teaming with Scholastic Press to review a new book and bring a giveaway to my readers. Meet Bailey by Harry Bliss, the dog who goes back to school.

About the Book (from the publisher)

Meet Bailey, a dog who surprises and charms his fellow human classmates with his irrepressible antics.

Follow Bailey the dog as he gets ready and goes to school. Should he wear the red or blue collar? Both are so fashionable! Will he be late? That squirrel is a distraction! And what about Bailey's homework? Would you believe he ate it? That is what dogs do, after all.

In this funny new book from the best-selling children's illustrator Harry Bliss, school proves to be an unexpected place for Bailey to do all sorts of things he loves: reading, fetching, painting, digging, singing — and making friends!

Grams Review

Harry Bliss, cartoonist and cover artist for New Yorker magazine, has written a fun and beautifully illustrated book for primary school aged children (ages 4-8). It covers the basics of going back to school; everything from the importance of  good grooming and punctuality to remembering to have fun and make friends with your classmates.

I love that Bailey uses "the dog ate my homework" excuse and his school day ends with reading time. And I love that Bailey loves books. He loves reading them as well as eating them. You'll find that Bailey's day ends, pretty much like it starts, with Bailey running for the bus.

I haven't shared this book with Our Little Princess yet, but I'll be seeing her next weekend and you can be assured we'll be reading Bailey. We'll be at her Uncle Nick's house. Coincidentally, Uncle Nick has a dog named Bailey and I think she'll really get a kick out of reading a book about a dog named Bailey. 

Giveaway

Scholastic Press will give three lucky readers a copy of the new book Bailey by Harry Bliss. Entry is simple. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post before Midnight (Central Time) on Thursday, September 8, 2011.  Make sure your entry includes either an email address or a link to your blog so I can notify you if you win.

Disclosure

Grams received a copy of Bailey in exchange for writing and posting this review. Scholastic is also furnishing the three copies which will be given away to my readers.

You can buy the book at The Scholastic Store.

La Fogata Grill - Corpus Christi Restaurant Review

Our Friday night dinner group chose La Fogata Grill for our weekly dinner. La Fogata is located at 6644 S. Staples St. in Corpus Christi. We arrived around 6:15 and our party of five was seated with no wait. As a matter of fact, I don't believe there was a wait for anyone the entire time we were there even though there were a couple of large parties.

Mary Lou and Grams started with the Friday night special $1.50 frozen margaritas. They were delicious and very generously sized.

As soon as we were seated, the waitress immediately served complimentary chips and salsa. The salsa is mild and tasty. If I had any complaint at all, it would be that the chips were not overly fresh and were unsalted. We also ordered chili con queso which was served with an order of flour tortilla chips. The queso and chips were exceptionally good. In fact, the queso was so good I was tempted to eat it with a spoon.

Each of the five members of our party ordered a different entree. So, while I didn't taste everyone's food, I think I got a good idea of how good a variety of their meals were.

Grandad had the beef enchiladas which arrived on a large rectangular plate. The plate had three enchiladas which were served with rice and refried beans. Grandad said the beef enchiladas were very good and he liked the rice a lot too. He thought the beans needed more seasoning.

Mama Ruthie had the Camarones a la Parilla which is grilled shrimp with tomatoes, onions and peppers served with a side of avocados and sour cream. It was served with homemade flour tortillas and looked delicious. I didn't really get her opinion about how she liked them, but I'm pretty sure they were good. She took a box of leftovers home.

Mary Lou had Shrimp Crepes which came with zucchini and rice. She reported that they were rich and tasty. This was also a large serving and Mary Lou also took a box home with enough food for lunch today.

Ron ordered beef tenderloin which was served with potatoes, beans and rice. His tenderloin was ordered medium rare and was done to perfection. He said it was the best piece of steak he had eaten in a restaurant. He did not have leftovers, so it must have been good. I will admit, sitting across the table, I kind of wished I had ordered the tenderloin. It looked that good.

I had Pepita Crusted Mahi with Tomato Butter and sides of sauteed spinach with cherry tomatoes and rice. I loved the pepita crust. In case you don't know, pepitas are pumpkin seeds. It was delicious and again, a very large serving. I have enough leftovers for lunch today.

We finished the meal with capirotada which is bread pudding. This dessert is served on a sizzling skillet and was a cut above any bread pudding I've ever had. The sizzling sauce with cranberries produced delicate strings of sugar on the fork. And the bread was deliciously crispy on the edges. The five of us split one order and it was enough for everyone to have several bites.

Everything we ordered was professionally prepared and artfully served. This is not your usual Tex-Mex fare and it's a bit pricier than the Mexican food places you'll find in large supply in Corpus Christi. Meals range from around $9 to $21 per person.

I regret that I did not think of taking pictures of the meals. They truly were beautifully plated.

Since I try to blog with integrity, I should tell you that our waitress was our niece Camey, so our service was exceptionally good. But, I'm willing to bet everyone gets the same good service.

Next time our kids are in town, we are definitely taking them to dinner at La Fogata. I highly recommend it.

40 Things To Do in Corpus Christi recommended trying new restaurants around Corpus Christi. This is the first one we've tried. More to come.

LaRue Across America Book Review and Giveaway

Disclosure: I received a free copy of LaRue Across America in exchange for writing this review. Two readers will receive a copy of LaRue Across America in a giveaway sponsored by Scholastic. The review is my own.

From the Publisher
Ike’s plans for a peaceful cruise with Mrs. LaRue are thwarted when their neighbor, Mrs. Hibbins, falls suddenly ill. Mrs. LaRue suggests that she and Ike care for her cats while Mrs. Hibbins is in the hospital, inviting them along on the cruise. But cats aren't allowed, and Mrs. LaRue decides to take them all on a week's vacation of road-tripping. Ike is beside himself and quickly takes up his pen to tell us why!

Join award-winner Mark Teague on this romping road trip across America. Readers can follow along on the maps of the U.S. that span the endpapers. Teague drives us to the story’s satisfying conclusion, and we are left with one profound question: Can cats and dogs really be friends?



My Review
Grams is a little bit in love with Ike LaRue! Ike is a wire-hair fox terrier with a distaste for the neighbor's cats. (To be honest, he reminds me of Minnie, my grand-dog, who is a Jack Russell Terrier.)

When a neighbor falls ill, Mrs. LaRue volunteers to take care of her cats. This forces a change in vacation plan as Mrs. LaRue and Ike embark on a road trip across America with Mrs. Hibbins' cats. The road trip turns ugly fast as the group visits such traditional American vacation spots as the Empire State Building and the Grand Canyon. No matter how hard LaRue tries to make sure that the cats enjoy their trip, most of his actions seem more designed to make them miserable.

LaRue Across America charmed me. I like that the story is told in a series of postcards from Ike. The illustrations are reminiscent of the books I loved as a child of the 1950s. The combination of color and black and white illustrations and the endpaper map of the USA are both beautiful enhancements.  I particularly love Mrs. LaRue's pink station wagon.

I think this would be a great book to take along on summer vacation, especially if you're taking a road trip. You could easily use this book to get your kids interested in writing postcards to grandparents and friends while away on vacation.

Giveaway Instructions
Scholastic will be giving two of my readers a copy of LaRue Across America. To enter simply leave a comment on this post. Please be sure that your comment contains either an email address or a link to your Google profile so I can contact you if you win. Entries will remain open until midnight on Wednesday, May 23, 2010. Winners will be determined by random drawing.

Eat, Pray, Love

Grams has just finished reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. This book was the March selection for my book club, The Book Snobs.

Grams is an avid reader and is not too particular about books. I enjoy a wide variety of books and am enthusiastic about reading almost anything. There are a couple of exceptions. As a general rule I don't enjoy reading horror because it keeps me up at night. I read at night and since Grandad sometimes travels for his job, sometimes I'm sleeping alone. Stephen King books scare the heck out of me. I'm game for almost anything else except "Christian" fiction. I absolutely detest this genre of literature. It's contrived and preachy. And, while I'm willing to concede that many people actually strive to live their lives this way, it's not something I care to read about.

Even though several people I know have read Eat, Pray, Love and have recommended it with varying levels of enthusiasm, I was less than enthusiastic about reading it. But, in my mind, being a member of the Book Snobs means I have committed to reading each month's selection, I borrowed the book from my daughter and reluctantly began reading.

Surprisingly, I really enjoyed this book. I was able to relate to Elizabeth Gilbert's search for balance in her life. Elizabeth took a year off to recover her life after a nasty divorce. This year off is a luxury that most of us don't have.  She was able to take the year because she got an advance on the book. She spent four months each in Italy, India and Indonesia (Bali). 

During her sojourn in Italy she comes face to face with her own depression and loneliness. She goes into some detail about her use of mood-altering prescription drugs and how they helped her cope with this difficult time in her life and then her ultimate decision not to continue their use. I was impressed by the fact that she found her own internal voice of wisdom and learned to channel it and use it to overcome her own challenges. I also enjoyed her lust for Italian food and the Italian way of life. My favorite quote from the Eat portion of this book is "Ours is an entertainment seeking nation, but not necessarily a pleasure-seeking one."  This is a distinction that I had not consciously thought about before, but I really agree with the assessment.

In the Pray section of the book she travels to an ashram in India and focuses on meditation and prayer. Quite a few of the people who recommended this book reported that they struggled with this section of the book and many of them didn't finish the book from this point. I was fascinated by her efforts to learn to calm her mind. Elizabeth struggles to find her own mantra and eventually decides to impose a period of silence on herself. I related to this because sometimes I too struggle to turn off the thoughts that run through my mind. I personally have learned to meditate using the prayers from the Rosary as a way to calm my mind. My favorite quote from the Pray section of the book is when she realizes that she must be vigilant about her own thoughts and vows many times daily "I will not harbor unhealthy thoughts anymore." I find that very often we limit ourselves by what we think.  There are also some interesting insights on the world's religions and how God is bigger than our limited religious doctrines have taught us.

Then she travels to Bali in her search to understand and open herself to Love. I thoroughly enjoyed the information about the Balinese practice of "happy" meditation. Her Balinese healer teaches her to meditate by smiling. He tells her she must learn to smile "even from her liver." My favorite quote from this section is when the Liz and the healer are discussing how people argue about religion. He tells her "I have good idea, for if you meet some person from different religion and he want to make argument about God. My idea is, you listen to everything this man say about God. Never argue about God with him. Best thing to say is, 'I agree with you.' Then you go home, pray what you want. This is my idea for people to have peace about religion."

This book is entertaining, fun and has a great message. Liz discovers the power that is within her. Near the end of the book she says "We get seduced by our own mantras." That is so powerful. Negative thoughts become self-fulfilling prophesies. If we constantly think "I'm a failure ... I'm lonely" over and over again, those thoughts dominate our actions and become our truth. We become what we constantly think. Words have so much power that we must learn to control them ... both spoken words and the words we think. Just as negative words have negative power, positive words have positive power. The power to stop suffocating ourselves with negativity is within us.

I enthusiastically recommend Eat, Pray, Love.