Deb Nance

A 1001 CBYMRBYGU.

A little teddy bear is sad that his owner treats her toys so badly and he decides to run away.



A lovely little story.

The story of the life of Vincent Van Gogh is ideal for a graphic novel, I think, and this is that story. Vincent never fit in, not with his family or his friends, and that soon becomes obvious in this book. His brother faithfully supports him, nevertheless, as Vincent travels to Provence where he finds great inspiration. Art about art.

Timeless stories of the friendship of two very different fellows, Frog and Toad. Highly recommended.

I feel confident baking many things. Cookies are something I've baked all my life. My Grandma Ashley's biscuit recipe is brilliant. Quick breads are a snap. I've made a million yeast rolls. I've loved making delicious homemade pie crust. I've even dared to make empanadas and clafoutis and kolaches.

I boldly call myself a baker.

Pastry? Do I make pastry? Well, yes, pies and little tarts. I've made cinnamon rolls and yeast rolls.

What about puff pastry? Choux pastry?

Here I deflate. No. I haven't ever tried making puff pastry or choux pastry. They looked a bit, well, daunting.

Then Pastry for Beginners arrived. I read over the recipe for puff pastry.

I think I can.

Puff Pastry Master Recipe



(Note: The recipe says that prep time is 45 minutes, with another 1 hour and 30 minutes for chilling time. Maybe I will eventually get the time down to that, but I worked on my dough for more than four hours.)



I begin by slicing a stick of butter lengthwise into thirds.



I lay the strips of butter on a piece of parchment paper about the length of a baking sheet, making a 4-by-5 rectangle. I gently press the butter together. The butter goes into the freezer to chill while I prepare the dough.



In a large bowl, I whisk 1 1/2 cups flour with 1/4 teaspoon salt. I make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add 2 tablespoons of melted butter and 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice. I use my hands to slowly fold the flour into the center. Then I add 1/2 cup ice-cold water and continue to mix and knead until a smooth dough forms.



I dust a clean surface and a rolling pin with flour, and place the dough ball on the floured counter, working it back and forth from the center, rolling it into an 8-by-10-inch rectangle. I then place the butter layer on top of the dough rectangle so that the corners of the butter point to the edges of the dough.



I fold the corners of the dough over the butter like an envelope. Then I cover it with plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.



When I bring the dough out of the refrigerator, it is time to laminate the dough. I dust it and the clean surface with a little bit of flour. I roll out the dough, to create a 12-by-15-inch rectangle. It is, of course, difficult to roll the chilled dough. I lift one short end of the dough and fold it to the center of the rectangle. Then I fold the other short end over the first to create a letter fold. I turn the dough 90 degrees, the first turn. I roll the dough out again into a 12-by-15-inch rectangle and fold it into a letter again. I cover it and freeze it for 20 minutes. On and on I go. I remove the dough and place it on the surface so that the long edge is parallel to the counter. I roll it out again to a 12-by-15-inch rectangle. I fold it again and rotate it 90 degrees. Again I roll it out into the rectangle and complete one more fold. I place it in the freezer for 20 minutes. Finally, I complete two more turns, fold it, and then chill it in the refrigerator for at least an hour.



Now the dough is ready to be used.

I'm going to use it to make Strawberries and Cream Danish.

I start by preheating the oven to 400 degrees F. I line the baking sheet with parchment paper and spray it with nonstick spray.




To make the filling, I blend cream cheese and sugar in a bowl. Then I add one large egg yolk, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. I mix these together, careful not to whip the mixture.




I take the dough out of the refrigerator and unfold the sheet. I cut it into a 10-by-10-inch square. I cut the sheet evenly into 9 squares and place the squares on the baking sheet. I cut an inner square on the inside of each square by lightly pressing a knife about 1/2 inch from the edge.



I place 1 heaping teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture into the center of each square.



I put half of a strawberry in the center of the cream cheese mixture, cut-side down. I place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for fifteen minutes.

I make an egg wash by whisking 1 large egg with 1 teaspoon of water. I remove the Danish from the refrigerator. I brush the edges of each pastry with the egg wash.



I bake the pastries for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown. The pastries cool for about 15 minutes before serving. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.



I'm pretty happy with the Strawberries and Cream Danish. I am very happy with the layers.

I read this one when it was first selected by Oprah's club. Best read of the year.

“Huggle wuggle,
bedtime snuggle,
cuddle up with me.

Comfy nook
and story book,
cozy as can be.”

An off-to-bed book that lingers over the joy of the process of getting ready, that delights in the time spent together, with perfect text and rhyme and illustrations for young children.

Are you feeling sad?
Did you have a bad day?

You can always go to the Isle of You.

It's a beautiful place where you can ride a stallion on the sand, climb a mountain, swim in a waterfall, or hunt for treasure with friends.

I felt refreshed just reading this book.

The cat Wabi Sabi sets out on a search for the meaning of his name. The search leads the cat to haiku and Japanese philosophy.

A 1001 CBYMRBYGU.

The only copy of this book that I could find was a copy in Japanese. No English except the copyright info. So, this book was a bit of a challenge. I couldn't even do as I usually do and type the text into Google Translator to be able to read it in English. I had to strictly go by the pictures. Fortunately, the pictures clearly told the story. Wonderful story. And my first read in Japanese.

A 1001 CBYMRBYGU.

The only copy of this book that I could find was a copy in Japanese. No English except the copyright info. So, this book was a bit of a challenge. I couldn't even do as I usually do and type the text into Google Translator to be able to read it in English. I had to strictly go by the pictures. Fortunately, the pictures clearly told the story. Wonderful story. And my first read in Japanese.

A beautiful story of a child seeking out a lost cat, with lots and lots of illustrations and just a bit of text, with a deep feeling of peace and hopefulness.

Daddy sights a weed in his yard, but his daughter sees it first and falls in love with the little flower. What is Daddy to do? Told with exuberance, this is a little story of perception and tolerance and love, with a perfect ending.

People who loathe children's books often do so because they find the stories in them, the characters in them, insipid. Here, then, is a book for those: Poil de Carotte. Poil de Carotte as well as the family of Poil de Carotte are the real thing, fussy, feuding, calling names, having favorites, being lazy, forcing others to do one's work, full of greed and cruelty and meanness. No sweet, sappy story here. And, astonishingly, first published in 1893. Refreshingly bleak, but not recommended for those in search of the happy stories of yesteryear. Or, really, children.

When you read hundreds of picture books a year as I do, it is a rare feeling to run across a book that feels delightfully novel.

Sign Off is delightfully novel.

Let's don't say too much about this one. Let me just say that road signs want to have fun, too.

Take a look at this one.

“Today the wild wombat is coming—all the way from Australia! We must be very careful with him.”

And that's all it takes for the rumors to start flying. Soon all the animals at the zoo are speculating about the wild wombat and his dangers. Like a game of Gossip, the whisperings about the wombat grow more and more ominous.

The illustrations perfectly mirror the worries of the zoo animals with growing dire predictions about the wild wombat.

The ending is quite satisfying.

Dinosaurs will always be a fascination for children, and libraries will always need new books with the latest fascinating information for children. Incredible Dinosaur Facts makes a wonderful new addition to school and public libraries. It's filled with almost unbelievable facts about dinosaurs (Did you know that Kosmoceratops had fifteen horns on its head?! A T. rex's bit could crush a car!) The text is readable, even for the youngest learners and weakest readers, and the pictures add much to the text.

Children will fight to check out this book.

Under My Hijab is a celebration of a beautiful element of traditional Muslim culture. Hena Khan shares in gentle rhyme and Aaliya Jaleel vividly depicts with colorful illustrations all the ways girls and women use hijabs in their busy lives, in work and play, to express their beliefs and complement their beauty. The final notes of the author provides information about the hijab, including the interesting side note that the author herself, despite being an observant Muslim, chooses not to wear a hijab.

It's a splendid picture book for both those familiar with Muslim culture, those who are unfamiliar, and those who have impressions of the culture not based on facts. I wish I had had this book in my school library last year when we talked about Muslim culture at school; this book would have added so much to the discussion.

A group of animals ride together down a river, learning how much they need the things that others have to offer.

It's a wonderful story told with lovely repetition, and which culminates in a glorious spill over a waterfall with everyone relying on everyone else.

Nobody can tell you how to do it.

They can tell you how they did it.

They can share stories of their attempts to write, good and bad.

But, honestly, after reading five books about writing this year, including this one by a very good writer, a knowledgeable writer, I say that nobody can tell you how to do it.

Ray Bradbury suggests that you, as he has done, should write a lot and write with passion. Try that if you wish. And if it works for you, good. If not, try someone else and test out their ideas.

A girl and her grandmother want to rent out the apartment over their store, but it's such a run-down space that no one wants it. Then the girl finds a way to promote the apartment to just the right couple, and there is a new feeling of companionship there.

A gentle story of friendship and the subtle nudges that get us where we need to be.

I was filled with dismay when I was told this was our book club selection for February. A mystery! Oh dear. I'm not a person who is a fan of mysteries.

The person who told me this was a mystery was wrong (in a way) and I was wrong; this is a mystery, yes, but it's much more than a mystery, and its strength lies in the parts, I think, that are not a mystery. Ordinary Grace is the story of Frank, a thirteen-year-old boy, during the summer of 1961.

The prologue is an excellent foretaste of what is to come. I'll abridge and share here:

“All the dying that summer began with the death of a child, a boy with golden hair and thick glasses, killed on the railroad tracks outside New Bremen, Minnesota....It was a summer in which death, in visitation, assumed many forms. Accident. Nature. Suicide. Murder. You might think I remember that summer as tragic and I do but not completely so. My father used to quote the Greek playwright Aeschylus. ‘He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain, which cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.' In the end maybe that's what the summer was about....I...didn't understand such things then. I've come four decades since but I'm not sure that even now I fully understand. I still spend a lot of time thinking about the events of that summer. About the terrible pain of wisdom. The awful grace of God.”

How can you resist that? Murder. Suicide. Death by accident and nature. And, over all of these, the terrible grace of God.

Noelle gets a new doll and a new bike and a pony every day. Every day is Christmas where Noelle lives. Every day except one. The day Noelle looks forward to. Un-Christmas Day. Ages 6-10. 9/10.

Two cardinals are nesting in a striking evergreen tree. And, suddenly, the tree is gone, taking Lulu with it. How will Red ever find her again?

Yet somehow he does.

A beautiful story about holiday miracles set in magnificent New York City.

Layard poses a question: Why is it that income is up yet happiness has not risen? He examines many studies of happiness for answers to this question. He wants our economic system and political system to use happiness as a guideline for success and shows us ways we can manipulate these systems to better make people happy.

Bear has a lot of things. What will she share?

This is a little delight of a board book, with question-and-answer, back-and-forth, inviting children to participate in the story with their own predictions, and to talk with others about the nature of sharing.