Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Eating Stories : I will not ever NEVER eat a tomato

I have this little sister Lola.
She is small and very funny.

Each time Sara picks up any of Lauren Child’s Charlie and Lola books it makes smile. There is something really adorable about the relation Charlie shares with his little sister, Lola. She of course is not an easy sibling to have and it is obvious that he loves her to the moon and back (or like Sara would say love you till Neptune, her favourite planet) which is why he is extremely patient with her and is always around to solve Lola’s dilemmas. She is a lucky sister, I hope she knows that :)

Coming to the book, I will not ever NEVER eat a tomato. Mum and dad are away and Charlie is struggling with feeding her sister Lola, a picky eater. The girl doesn't eat a thing! 

She says, “I do not eat peas or carrots or potatoes or mushrooms or spaghetti or eggs or sausages. I do not eat cauliflower or cabbage or baked beans or oranges. And I am not keen on apples or rice or cheese or fish fingers. And I absolutely will not ever never eat a tomato.”

Do you have someone tiny at home who tells you the same each time you put a dinner a plate in front of her/him? Then she/he has met her match and this book is just what she/he needs to read. Of course I can’t guarantee you that by the time you finish reading this book your child will start loving an avocado as much she likes her spaghetti. But I assure you she might just want to give everything you put on her plate at least one try. She might spit it out later though. Mine did. Mushrooms.

So Charlie needs to feed his sister Lola all that she dislikes and he decides to get really creative and renames them all in the hope that she will try at least some and may be even end up liking a vegetable or two.  Carrots become orange twiglets from Jupiter, peas become green drops from Greenland and potatoes become cloud fluff. She decides she likes these pretend names and agrees to give each of them a try and ends up liking them too. She is having such a good time playing this game that she asks Charlie to hand her over a red tomato calling it a moon squirter! Charlie ofcourse can’t believe his eyes.

Are the creative mommies & daddies, listening? If I told you that this book is what your kid needs to read then I need to apologize. It is actually a book that we as parents need to read. Show me a kid who doesn't want to eat clouds? My little girl loves ocean nibbles (fish fingers) for she wants to become a mermaid too and that is what mermaids eat. No debates on what the mermaids eat, OK?

If you like you can even plan some fun games it. 
  • Ask your child what she/he likes and dislikes. 
  • Prepare a tasting plate of some “new” foods for her and ask her to give them a try
  • Ask her to come up with some imaginative names for the vegetables and fruits she likes and dislikes.
Before I end this post, let's hear what Sara thinks of Lola in this book. Picture this. 
  • Lola says, "I will not ever never eat a tomato".
  • Sara says, "I will always tomatoes. They are so squishy and juicy."
  • Lola says, "But why are those carrots there Charlie?"
  • Sara says, "What’s the matter with her? I always eat carrots. They are good for the eyes."
  • Lola says, "I don’t eat peas. I don’t eat green things."
  • Sara says, "So what if they are green, vegetables can be of any colour, it is their wish." 
  • Lola says, "I am not keen on rice."
  • Sara says, "How can someone not like rice? I love rice. I love plain rice too."
  • Lola  says, "I do not eat mushrooms."
  • Sara says, "I also do not eat mushrooms. They are yukh."
As you can see till the time Sara liked the veggies and fruits that Lola didn't like she had a great time giving a piece of her mind to Lola. But come, mushrooms they were best friends and were both right. Ha!

Here is something that I made for my Lola after we finished reading.

Lola sandwich and Lola’s favourite “pink milk” 
Lola sandwich
Ingredients
  • Two slices of bread (I used brown)
  • A filling of your choice (Mine was cream cheese, grated carrots & tomatoes)
  • Cheese for the hair (I used cheddar)
  • Flaked almonds and raisins for the eyes 
  • Julienned carrots for the hair, nose and lips
  • Flaked almonds and a hint of blue colour to make her clips
Instructions
1.Cut the bread into the shape of her face.
2.Make the sandwich with a choice of your filling
3. Assemble the rest of the features on her face. 
4. Put on her blue clips. I didn't have blue colour on hand so I took a blue M&M and with rubbed the wet flaked almond on it and the blue colour from the M&M transformed the almond into her blue clip.
Lola’ favourite drink, Pink Milk.
Ingredients
  • A couple of fresh strawberries and raspberries, chopped
  • Milk of your choice
  • Sugar or honey if adding
Instructions
1. Blitz everything together in a mixer till it is all frothy and creamy.
I hope you relish reading this yummy book with your little chef. Oh and the illustrations like in all the other Charlie & Lola books are gorgeous and what I particularly liked was that the book has real pictures of food even though the names are all imaginary :)

Images : Personal Album. While you enjoy reading this post with visuals.Please do not use them without asking. They belong to Orange Kitchens unless otherwise stated. 

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Books for Cheflings: Let's Eat by Beatrice Hollyer

Each night before Sara goes to sleep she gets to choose five books (I ask her to pick five and usually she picks up about eleven) to read with us. Post which she likes to "read" them by herself. 

She is very particular that just like on her mum's bedside table she too on hers has her mobile, a food magazine (the mag and Sara are of the same size;  a tiny one that came with the newspaper) and a photoframe! This girl...I tell you!
At four she already has her huge collection of books. And a lot of them are food related. I shared these ones with you here.

Her current favorite is Let's Eat! What children eat around the world by Beatrice Hollyer.
The book takes you to the homes of five kids who stay in different parts of the world (France, India, Mexico,South Africa and Thailand) and how each spends her day and during the course of the day what each one eats. 

Simply put the book talks about the cities/villages that they belong to, their eating habits on weekdays and over weekends and what they like and what they dislike. 

But underneath all this is what I like about the book more. The differences and the similarities between their lives and where from the child can learn a lot.

How each child helps her parents during mealtimes, how there are certain foods that each one associates with celebrations at home ( we all do that, don't we...irrespective of latitudes and longitudes), how its fun to go and shop for food and make the right and a healthy choice. And how food shared with family and friends always leaves with one with beautiful and lifelong memories.

The child begins to appreciate the differences as well. Not only the how each country has a different cuisine but also how life is different in the city and at the farm and the hardships that the less privileged ones have to face. 

The book is written from the child's perspective and has real life pictures of her/his life which my little girl loves. At the end of the book is a food glossary and also  favorite recipes from each of the kids. 

Sara says her favorite is AA from Thailand and she loves AA's recipe for the Thai fried egg. And each morning she cooks one for herself (without the fish sauce mostly) while her mum is busy screaming Sara we are getting late for school. Oh and we love to point out each country on the globe too. She also says that the bit about Thembe makes her sad for the little girl has to work really hard each day.

One thing to keep in mind is that obviously a forty page book can't do justice to all the different food habits and living habits of each country. So its more to expose them to something that is different than theirs rather than a detailed study on culture and food and certain classifications that the book portrays (not so well off in one part of the world).

The one on India did disappoint me. I think it may not be a bad idea for Sara and me to rewrite that bit soon:) 

About the author: Journalist,writer and newscaster she began her career in South Africa before moving to UK where lives now.Other books by her for children are : Our world of water and Wake up World.

Image: here and  a bad one taken with my phone.

While you enjoy reading this post with visuals.Please do not use them without asking. They belong to Orange Kitchens unless otherwise stated.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Baked fish with sticky sauce

“Even a fish could stay out of trouble if it would just learn to keep its mouth shut.”

And since it didn't quite learn the above it always lands on our dinner plate:) We love fish. Baked and grilled never fried. I have never been a big fan of anything fried. Hence , no affinity for fried fish whatsoever.

And when there is brown sugar and fish sauce involved (both of which are loved at home) then the recipe automatically becomes a big favorite. This one comes from my all time favorite book, Bill's Everyday Asian ( an earlier post from same the book,here). I like the fact that when it says Everyday Asian it really means recipes for everyday cooking. Almost all of the recipes ask for very little chopping, very few ingredients, cooking time is very little (well most cook on their own in the oven) and are very healthy.


Baked fish with sticky sauce
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 kg fish,snapper, sea bass, pomfret (Actually whatever you fancy)
1 lemon sliced
2 tablespoons light flavoured oil
3 garlic cloves,sliced
3 cm piece of ginger, peeled and julienned
3 red chillies,thinly sliced
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
4 tablespoons fish sauce
100 ml lime juice
2 spring onions,sliced
a handful of mixed herbs, basil,mint and coriander

Instructions
1.Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius and brush a baking tray with oil.
2.Make three deep slashes on either side of the fish, insert the lemon slices in the slashes and place on the tray and bake for 20-25 minutes.
3.Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok over high heat.Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and stir fry for 1-2 minutes.
4.Add the sugar,fish sauce and lime juice and cook for 5-6 minutes or until syrupy. Pour into a jug and set aside.
5.Serve the fish, drizzle over the sauce and dress with spring onions and mixed herbs.

Recipe: Bill's Everyday Asian by Bill Granger
Images: Personal Album
While you enjoy reading this post with visuals.Please do not use them without asking. 
They belong to Orange Kitchens unless otherwise stated.
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