say goodbye to summer with vampirina at the beach!

Summer is almost over, and we are having one more big beach bash before we say goodbye to running through the sprinkler and wedges of watermelon for lunch and say hello to school books and lunch boxes.  Thanks to Disney Hyperion for sending me a copy of this adorable book! 

This is the second book for Vampirina.  In her first book, Vampirina Ballerina, we meet our main character, a little vampire girl who wants very much to be a ballet dancer but has never taken a class before.  When she goes to the ballet school, she is definitely not your average student and does things her own way.  

In Vampirina At The Beach, Vampirina is going to the beach with her family and friends for a night of beachy fun.  They do all the things everyone does at the beach - building sand castles, splashing in the ocean waves, roasting marshmallows by the fire, but these beach-goers do things their own monstery way.  The combination of the familiar beach summer scene and the monsters of all shapes and sizes produces really fun results!  It reminds me of a modern, kiddy version of the tv show, The Munsters.  Every time I read this book, I can't help but hear the Munsters theme music.  

What's story time without snacks?!  We made some pretty pink and purple sea monster cookies to munch while we read today.  I like my recipes super, duper simple, and my monster cookies are made easily with the work of an octopus shaped cookie cutter.   Once you have made up your favorite sugar cookie dough and given it whatever bright color you want, cut the dough with the octopus cutter, and bake.  After they are baked and while they are still hot on the baking sheet, stick on several candy eyes.  

a bruce the bear dinner party and you're invited!

Hotel Bruce is out in US stores today, and Disney Books gave us an advanced copy to check out.  We loved it!  For our review of the book, go here. Bruce the bear loves to read food blogs and cook up fancy recipes with somewhat outlandish ingredients, so we thought it would be fun to create a dinner party menu inspired by Bruce and his love of tasty food.  

Here is our forest-fun menu sure to make your little bears happy: 

To get the party started on a sweet and sour note, let's make some lavender lemonade sweetened with plenty of a bear's favorite - honey! My kids aren't super adventurous taste-testers, but a vendor at our local farmer's market makes a version of this that they love.  Add or subtract the amount of honey used based on your own taste preference. 

recipe that serves two bears: 

1. brew lavender tea with two lavender tea bags and two cups of boiling water. 
2. squeeze 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice.
3. combine in a pitcher. 
4. add preferred amount of honey (we used about 1/4 cup) and stir. 
5. add ice and enjoy! 

For our main course, we made some super-easy but still tasty salmon. 

each pouch serves one bear: 

1. Gather up parchment paper, a stick of butter at room temperature, dried Italian herb mix, salt, pepper, and one salmon fillet per person.
2. blend two tablespoons of herbs with soft butter.
3. tear parchment into 10x10 inch squares. 
4. place one salmon fillet on parchment square.  place two pats of herb butter on top of fish.
5. fold parchment like an envelope and place in 400 degree oven for fifteen minutes.

For our sweet grand finale, we have a fancy forest cake with lots and lots of chocolate!  This is a traditional chocolate roll cake filled with chocolate ganache that we decorated with mushroom toadstools made from raspberries and a tube of marzipan that can be found in most grocery stores.  Our gnome friends guarded the cake from little bear fingers until it was time to serve it up.  This recipe serves either ten bears now or five bears now with the other half frozen for another day.  I used the domestic goddess Mary Berry's chocolate swiss roll recipe.  Her directions always produce flawlessly yummy results!  You can find that recipe here.  

Well, I don't know about you, but we're stuffed!  Thanks for reading today and hopefully this sets you on your way to create your own beary good forest feast!

new adventures with bruce the bear! hotel bruce by ryan t. higgins

I was so excited when publishers Disney-Hyperion asked my to promote the newest adventure with Bruce the Bear, Hotel Bruce.  You know that I only share books that me and my kids absolutely love, and we thought that the first Bruce book - Mother Bruce - was a total hoot! 

In the first book, Bruce is a culinarily-adventurous bear who loves to try out fancy and delicious recipes, and of course, he seeks out locally-sourced ingredients from his forest home.  When he gets some fresh goose eggs for his latest recipe, he wasn't expecting them to hatch!  Bruce reluctantly has to learn how to be a dad to his new gosling babies.  

In Ryan T. Higgins' new book, Bruce and his gosling kids return from their annual winter migration holiday to the beach to find that three mice have moved into Bruce's home and turned it into a hotel!  Well, obviously, this did not sit well with Bruce.  There were animals in his bed, animals in his bathroom, animals in his kitchen, animals everywhere he turned!  After lots of shenanigans, Bruce finally gets his home to himself once again, and peace and quiet returns.  

I am so happy that Higgins is bringing Bruce back for more fun.  His character is lovably grumpy.  His love for his gosling babies is adorable.  The story and the illustrations are full of laugh-out-loud funny moments for kids and the adults who read with them.  Hotel Bruce comes to stores October 18. recommended age: 4 - 10