Gamewright Games Giveaway

We're a game-playing family--I've written before about some of our favorites--so I was pretty excited to be contacted by Gamewright to try out some of their children's games.

I'll say that the timing could not have been more perfect. Summer vacation is cranking along and it's great to have a stash of inexpensive games where you can just point to the shelf and say, "Don't tell me you're bored--pick a box and have some fun!"

I'm particularly partial to non-electronic board games (I'm anti-batteries and anti-screens) and here's a list of what we got to try from Gamewright's 2009 collection:

Ringo Flamingo
You see it pictured here and it's by far the best. As I said it's not electronic but it's all about hand-eye coordination so that not only did our 7 year-old love it but we all had fun playing. It's a little addictive as you try to flip the plastic rings over the flamingos necks. Two thumbs way up on this one.

Pool Sharks
Also a fun game it's table-top pool with a marine theme. Instead of pool cues you have two little plastic trigger-loaded sharks that hit the balls when you shoot them gun-style (though they're not guns, don't panic). The kids liked it though getting the little balls out of the pockets isn't as easy as it could be though that's certainly not a huge issue.

Say Cheese!
A matching game with dice that's good for visual recognition skills with small children. You roll a set of dice then see if the characters on the dice match the cards on the table. If they match you get to keep them and new cards are turned over. Easy concept, but one where you'll find yourself getting beaten by your first grader if you're not on your toes.

Polar Derby
Another dice game but one that is so much a game of luck it didn't go over as well. We tried it out a couple times but lost interest when twenty minutes into it we were still rolling and rolling and rolling and rolling . . . I'd stick with Say Cheese for a better time.

Too Many Monkeys
Another good card game where you try to get all your monkeys in a row but with some fun twists. Like elephants. And giraffes. Oh, and raccoons--we love raccoons. This one has been popular.

Boochie
Another five stars here on this game. You have a multi-sided "boochie" ball that you roll (good for outside or inside) and then players try to throw their bean bags or plastic rings as close to the boochie ball as possible. Once everyone has thrown all their turns you look to see what is written on the top side of the boochie ball then score the game accordingly. It might say that the farthest player gets an extra point or that the player with the closest two items gets two points, whatever. A big hit with Lillian and her first-grader friends and fun for the rest of us too.

Funny Business
This one got mixed reviews here. I didn't care for it and the others didn't really like it but David LOVES it. It's styled as more of a party game for adults where you have a deck of cards, each with the description of a business on it. Say, a recording studio or a dentist's office or funeral parlor or whatever. You draw two cards then are timed as you each try to come up with the best business name that incorporates both businesses. So if you have a bakery and a hair salon you might write down "Cookie Cutter's." Get it? They give you suggestions but I only thought it was alright. But who cares what I think, right? If it keeps my 10 year-old happy it's all good.

This Big!
Another card game where you try to catch fish of varying point values. A good one along the lines of some of Gamewright's other hits like Slamwich or Rat-a-Tat. Though my favorite is still Ringo Flamingo.

But now for the good news! Gamewright has generously offered one winner a chance to own Ringo Flamingo and Hang Four, one of their best from last year's collection. Great summer stuff! Thanks, Gamewright!

Here's how to win:

Before 12 am Monday morning click here to reach the giveaway entry form then enter your name and email. I will pick one of the names at random, contact the winner via their email and publish the winner's first name and home town in next Tuesday's post. See the bottom of the entry form for more details.

This giveaway is open to readers with a U.S. address, good luck!

Someone I'd Like You to Meet: Michelle Fabio from Bleeding Espresso

I hope you're all enjoying the beginnings of a great 4th of July weekend--or Canada Day as the case may be. Thank you all for such great comments on yesterday's post, it's nice to hear that so many of you out there feel the same way as I do, gives me a feeling that maybe I'm not so crazy after all.

Anyway. . . on with today's post! Michelle Fabio was June's Write-Away Contest judge and she was kind enough to answer some of my questions.

Her blog is Bleeding Espresso where she writes about her life in Calabria, Italy where she lives with her fiance Paolo and assorted animals. You'll probably pick up many of the details of her life as you read the questions I put to her--she graduated from law school, has great advice for freelance writers, likes to cook . . . a multi-talented and very interesting person.

By the time I got to her last few answers I was drooling just thinking about that fresh mozzarella!

***

I’m so envious of your chance to live in Italy. It’s a place I’ve dreamed of visiting. Give us the best thing about living there and then the worst. Is there a worst? Or is it all just perfection?

The best part of living here for me is the oft-overwhelming feeling of peace I have here; I'm the kind of person that could be happy just about anywhere, but living here simply feels so very right for me. The worst part about living here is that my family and old friends don't live closer than an ocean away.

I know you came to Italy and met your fiancé Paolo when you didn’t speak any Italian and he didn’t speak any English. You’ve got to explain how that worked. It must have been an instant connection or something.

Well, the premise of the question is partly true: it's true that I didn't speak Italian when I landed in Italy, but I was actually already living here (in a village of 300 and only one other English speaker) for a year and a half before I met Paolo. By then I was speaking Italian at a decent level, although the learning process certainly went much faster post-Paolo.

You got a law degree but never practiced law. How long did it take you after your clerkship to decide you wanted out of the law? What prompted it? Did your family have anything to say about it?

Actually I knew I didn't want to practice law before I went to law school. I had always planned on doing something alternative with my law degree, something in legal research and writing, possibly even a lifetime law clerk (I *loved* my clerkship and definitely would've sought out another had I stayed in the States). Writing was always my ultimate goal, and despite the fact that lawyers get a bad wrap for their writing, law school does teach you how to make solid arguments and not leave holes in your writing that others can exploit--very good lessons for a writer of any genre, I think.

My family really didn't say anything to *me* about my decision to come to Italy and not practice law, although if they talked amongst themselves, I don't know. I've always kind of done my own thing, so I don't know that any of this was all that shocking for them.

Do you see yourself living forever in Italy? Would you ever move back to the U.S.? I know you miss family there but which side of the Atlantic feels more like home?

As of right now, I don't envision myself living in the United States for an extended period of time again. I love both my countries (I'm also an Italian citizen), but as I said in the first question, I just feel at peace here. This is where I belong, at least right now--and that's how I live my life, in the now. Plus I also have a family and responsibilities now here too with Paolo, my dogs, my goats, chickens, rabbits, ducks, etc. It's just like anyone else who moves away from "home" even if it's just to another town in your state--you create your new home and if you like it there, you stay and probably don't think too much about 20 years down the road.

You have two goats that get some press on your blog—what other pets have you had over the years? Anything else you’d like to keep?

Actually we recently added another kid to the mix :) I've mostly been a dog caretaker over the years; I've also had a few cats and some fish as a child. As I wrote above, we also have chickens, rabbits, and ducks, but I wouldn't exactly call them pets if you know what I mean. I would love to have a little lamb to go with our kids and someday, if we can find a way to get more land, I wouldn't mind a donkey and/or a horse. I would have a zoo if I could!

I can imagine that learning the basics of a language is hard enough but getting fluent enough to really get the idioms and humor takes some time. When did you get to that point where you could joke in Italian? Is the Italian sense of humor very different from the American? If so how?

Excellent question. I think the Italian sense of humor is actually quite similar in many ways, but our reference points are just so different. Puns, for instance, are quite common here as well, but you have to know those idioms and double meanings well to really get the gist of some of them. And in the same way not all Americans have the same sense of humor, neither do all Italians, so it's a bit of a difficult question to answer. I will say, though, that Italians seem to love variety shows way more than Americans. Weird, but true.

I don't really remember the point when I could joke in Italian, but I do know it's a great feeling to make Paolo laugh :)

What would you say the Italian perceptions of Americans are? Do they have stereotypes? Have you had any personal experiences with this?

Well, some Italians *love* Americans, love to practice their English, would fly to NYC tomorrow if they could. Others think of Americans as introducing many of the nasty things to the world, e.g., McDonald's and everything biggerbiggerbiggeryesssssss! I think it's still pretty common for some Italians to think Americans are wealthy--especially those that travel here.

The only personal experience with stereotypes I can think of is the sheer surprise many here had/have that I grew up eating much of the same food as they did since I grew up in an Italian-American home...I'm pretty sure they thought I hate hamburgers and hot dogs every day, and that I put ketchup and mayonnaise or some kind of sauce on everything (I really don't, I swear!).

If someone was coming to visit Italy and only had one week how would you plan their itinerary?

My best advice is to not think of your holiday as a trip of a lifetime. From the get-go, plan on coming back here so you can really focus on one or two cities in that week and enjoy them rather than flitting around trying to see too much and really losing sight of everything in the process. I'd say fly into Rome, hang out there for most of the week, and hit Florence for two days or so. Then start planning for the next trip.

You come from Pennsylvanian coal country—and Pennsylvania Dutch stock--which seems quite the opposite from the Italian side of your family but have you found any similarities?

STUBBORNNESS! And extreme pride in their heritage. My grandfather was Lithuanian (yet another thrown in the mix), and believe-you-me, you did *not* want to mistakenly say he was Polish....

You’ve had some great posts about freelance writing, what kind of goals do you have related to your writing career? Any projects in the works?

My two most current goals are to start working my way into more mainstream print magazines and also to publish a book or 12 ;) I have a few novels in the works, actually--and by that I mean, I've written most of a first draft of a few, and they're sitting in my computer waiting for me to make time to get back to them.

What was the first thing you ever wrote professionally? As in “got paid for”?

In law school, I wrote case summaries/articles for Philadelphia's The Legal Intelligencer, the oldest law journal in the United States. Thinking about it now, that gig was probably what convinced me I could actually use my legal training and love of writing together, so it's rather appropriate that it was my first paying gig.

You love to read . . . do you read more in Italian or English? What are your favorite books?

I read *way* more in English; I've probably only read five or six Italian books total, but I'm working on it. In Italian books, they use a funny tense that really isn't used in spoken Italian, which means it's a bit more challenging for me; I never learned "book" Italian, only through listening and repeating.

My favorite books are many and vary by mood, but generally Virginia Woolf and Jane Austen are particular favorites. I loved "Chocolat" by Joanne Harris, "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho (which I read in Italian!), Sarah Dunant books, Ladies No.1 Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith, the Mitford series by Jan Karon, Janet Evanovich, Lisa Scottoline, Anita Shreve, Michael Baldacci...so many! I'll read absolutely anything you put before me, especially since buying English books here is quite difficult (and then, expensive).

You like to cook—what is your favorite thing to whip up as a late night snack? What foods do you miss the most from America and what are we missing out on?

This will sound weird, but I really don't do late night snacks. We tend to eat dinner quite late--between 8 and 10 p.m (the latter more in the summer), so there isn't really much snacking going on. If I'm hungry between meals and feel like making something, it depends on what's in season...right now, I'd have a couple figs or slice of melon wrapped in prosciutto crudo or maybe some tahini-less hummus (tahini is hard to find so I substitute peanut butter). In the winter, maybe a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich or popcorn made on the stove with olive oil. Or, you know, a chocolate bar, chips, yogurt, or ice cream--but I don't whip them up ;)

Foods missed from America, in no particular order:

Bacon (yes we have pancetta--delicious but not the same)
Cheddar cheese (yes we have a million kinds of cheese, but nothing like cheddar)
Cottage cheese (ditto)
Different salad dressings
Good mayo (we have it here, but it's more Miracle Whip-y tasting, which I don't like)
Different ethnic foods like Chinese, Mexican, etc. (most Italian cities do have at least a semblance of these, but I live in the boonies)

What are Americans missing out on? Mozzarella made from buffalo's milk, especially with ripe tomatoes, fresh basil, and a drizzle of fresh olive oil. Caprese salad made in Italy (as close to Capri as you can get) is like *nothing* you've ever tasted before. And of course I love my prosciutto crudo as mentioned above. And authentic pizza. And oh dear, you really must come and eat your way through Italy!

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Things I've Learned about Blogging

I'm coming up on some anniversaries here--I've got a birthday around the corner, I just had a wedding anniversary and then I've been blogging for four years now which kind of puts me in the running for bloggers' social security.

So being all introspective and everything I'm compiling a few things I've picked up over the past four years. Because four years in blogging time is pretty much close to an eternity and what good is all that time if you can't share a bit of it?

1. Bloggers are usually very nice people. In fact, surprisingly so. They're usually willing to answer questions and help out others in the medium and considering that we're talking pretty much total strangers here it kind of puts your faith back in humanity. I mean, if you can get a cross section of the world online and the majority you run across are generally nice and polite then doesn't that say something about the world in total?

2. There are waves of bloggers. When blogging first started you had the Techie Pioneers who blazed the trails followed by the Creative Practical types who figured they'd better give it a try because it seemed fun and it might have a future. Then there were the Me Too's! who heard about blogging on every street corner and finally decided they should see what all the fuss was about followed by the Entrepreneurials who smelled money in the air (though ironically enough to really make that money you had to be at the first or second wave). As more people pick up blogging it changes to mold to the whim of the masses. It sure has been interesting to watch . . .

3. And likewise there are waves of audiences. Or maybe a better way to put it is that audiences rotate. Someone finds your blog and they follow it for a while--how long it is I'm not entirely sure, it's hard to say--then they get to the point where they've seen enough of a blog that they get bored. Then a new set of readers move in and the cycle starts again. You see this with other media as well--magazines, television shows, whatever. There might be a core of hard core fans but generally the majority are a shifting mass that rotate through the cycle of lurking, commenting, devouring, burning out, dropping out.

4. Frequency of posting is more important than you think. In the past I thought that however often you post really doesn't matter--you decide it for yourself and follow your own pace. But now I'm not so sure it's not one of the more critical choices a blogger can make. First, if you're in blogging to improve your writing your frequency of posting will make a huge difference in how quickly your skills improve. It's the difference between exercising once a week and exercising every day. Conventional wisdom in the blogging world has suggested that more is better--up to a certain point at least--and that keeping readers happy with a steady stream of material is the key to success (if "success" is what you're after).

However, as I mentioned in point #3, readers can be a fickle group. They come, they sample, they return for another snack but feed them too richly too often and they get lardy and complacent. If your content is the equivalent of three full buffets a day then your readers will begin to take it for granted and expect more and more to satiate their appetites. You always want them to come to you hungry, right?

So my point is, somewhere out there is a scale that says "on this side you're giving them too much, they're getting fat" and "on this side you're starving them" and you've got to figure out where that point is and balance it against your abilities to produce. I'm not sure I've made the right calls when it comes to this issue. In fact, I'm quite sure I've been very selfish and have considered only my own wants and needs and have probably paid the price because of it.

5. There are only three reasons people read blogs. Education, entertainment or friendship. If you want to be a good blogger then you have to provide at least one of these things but preferrably two or three. I have about 200 blogs in my feed list that I read and the ones on the list are there because of one of three reasons: They teach me something (whether it's about food, crafts, parenting or another culture), they entertain me (usually by making me laugh) or they've been able to create a bond with me where I'm interested in what they're going to say simply because I like them as a person and care about their life.

If a blog can't provide one of these things it won't draw readers.

6. There is a blogging life expectancy. I've watched other blogs pretty carefully over the years and it seems there are stages that all bloggers seem to go through. The first is childhood where you're completely unsure of what you're doing, you can hardly find your way around your template, you're making faux pas right and left but don't even realize it.

Then you get past that and you're into adolescence where blogging is completely addicting. You spend too much time on the computer (at least you have that suspicion), you start to realize how big the blogosphere is and how much there is to learn and you're desperate to jump in and find your place. You start telling everyone that you've got a blog and you're having lots of fun.

Then when you hit blogging adulthood you realize how much time it takes to maintain your new hobby. You wonder if there is more to life than just the blog thing and if you shouldn't be focusing on something else. The workload of keeping things up and commenting hits you and you get very tired.

Finally, of course, is senior citizen status where you've been around long enough to generate some respect simply because you haven't succumbed to death yet. You've set rules for yourself and stick to them out of a sense of self-preservation and reality. You wonder how much longer you have left . . .

My point is, a blog's death can occur at any time along this time line but I've seen it commonly hit at about the 1-year mark. Something about blogging a year tends to make people stop and wonder why they're doing it and if it's not time to move on because that's usually when their blog hits adulthood and is fully grown. So if you're coming up on one year and are feeling that burn out it's not just you . . . it's pretty common.

7. The beauty of the medium is immediacy. But the best posts are those that can sit a bit. Back to the feeding-your-audience metaphor: while I can appreciate the wonders of fast food and have spent more than my share of calories on the joys of onion rings and strawberry milk shakes I do get a better meal from restaurants that take their time to let things braise and simmer and roast. Likewise, while blogging is about "now" and "what next?" I consistently find that the best writing happens when posts are allowed to set, solidify and mellow in between edits.

I know it's hip to think that just slapping words on the page and serving them up in their natural, raw, gritty state is the "real" way to write and to show one's true emotions but it's really a bunch of bologne (okay, perhaps I've taken the food thing too far). It's as I've heard time and time again . . . anyone can write but real writers edit.

8. Having a goal is everything. Of course this is true with everything in life, if you want to be successful then you have to have a plan where you want to go. Even if your plan is just to enjoy yourself you won't fully realize this goal unless you first formulate it.

People get into blogging for all sorts of reasons, none of which are necessarily wrong, but if your goal is to make money you are so completely in the wrong line of work. Not only is it highly unrealistic to think that you'll be able to get into the upper echelon that can make a living in such a volatile field (it's too determined by luck and genius to provide even modest incomes to the majority) but if you're in it first for the money then everything you do will have that shadow of motive behind it which cannot be hidden from your audience. They will eventually figure it out and it will turn them off.

Making money from blogging is completely fine--I personally say "Woo hoo!" every time I see a check with my name on it--but you'd better have a goal and it better be something other than that check if you want to find satisfaction in the job.

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Scooper Ball

Catch is a great game no matter what but this is the game for those who haven't quite mastered a ball and mitt yet.

Easy as cutting up some old milk jugs and taping up a pair of socks or some rags into a ball (you could use a wiffle ball too though the sock ball is softer on the head and doesn't bounce out as easily).

And if that doesn't float your boat I'm smitten with these Star Wars rings--now that is a fun idea!

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And More Terrariums . . .

I warned you that I'm filling every glass container in the house with plants--here's a Mason jar we filled with moss to make a pretty little country landscape.

Complete with a cottage. Probably made of cottage cheese (or maybe polymer clay).


I'm afraid that's all I have for you today. Things have been very busy here lately . . . for all of us . . . important stuff like lemonade stands (or "lemonad" stands as Lillian's sign advertises). No it's not a typo at all but a marketing ploy to sound more European so she can charge more.

Or busy making tennis ball canons with my son or hanging out my laundry on the line or reading cheap thrillers which I've very much been in the mood for lately. Or getting ready for our kayaking trip next week. It's summer time and the livin' is easy . . .

***

Congratulations to Trish at Acworth, Georgia for winning this weekend's Aqua Sphere swim gear giveaway. That's going to be one fun package!

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The Black Swan

Strange to say but I've held off writing this review.

You see, earlier this year Andrew kept telling me about this great book he was reading and how much I'd like it but I pretty much ignored him. "Yea, yea" I thought. "I'd love it. Got it."

But it wasn't until I was in the mood for something meaty that I finally caved and gave it a try and from the first page I was hooked. I found it so interesting and so "WOW!" that after I was finished I turned around right then and read it a second time, gleaning all those little kernels that I'd missed with the first passing. And yes, Andrew's found satisfaction in many "I told you so's."

I still haven't got it all down yet and could probably do with a third reading so I'm rather hesitant to review it because I most certainly won't do it justice but here goes. . . .

It's called The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable and if you have any background in economics you'll recognize that a Black Swan is a name to describe an event that was unforeseen and rare but that had a lasting consequence. It seems that back before the world had been so thoroughly explored, Europeans believed that the only kind of swans in existence were white. The idea of a swan being black went against their concept of reality. However, once explorers reached Australia and found black swans happily living there the pseudo-truth that "all swans are white" was destroyed and replaced by a new view.

So it is with certain events. We go along in life, living and working and thinking we know what will happen tomorrow when "BAM!" something comes along--a Black Swan--that changes our world. It might be something historically significant like 9/11 or it might be something culturally revolutionary such as Harry Potter but to be a Black Swan it must be unpredictable and it must have a large impact.

The author, Taleb, brings a unique experience to his writing. Originally from Lebanon, his father was a high-ranking government official in a country known for its cultural richness and diversity. Then came war (a Black Swan for sure) and suddenly he's living with bombs overhead and later as an expatriate.

One of the most intelligent writers I've read he worked on Wall Street as a quant (quantitive analyst) working with numbers to assess risk but began to believe that in fact, the world was completely and utterly unpredictable. While he was spending his time analyzing numbers to lead his clients to money he realized that our extremist, fast-paced world is becoming increasingly governed by these Black Swans--and after the economics we've seen in the past year I would do nearly anything to sit down with Taleb and talk with him about the situation and if he feels a small bit of vindication.

Anyway, I could go on and on because it's really and truly one of those books you read that changes the way you look at the world--you start seeing Black Swans everywhere. In effect, the bottom line is the old Socratic adage: "True wisdom is knowing that you know nothing."

As an example of a few of the things he covers, one part describes how we humans have a driving need to create an understanding of events. We need narrative, we demand explanations and even if there may not be an explanation (Taleb argues there rarely is, particularly when dealing with Black Swans) our minds pick and choose our memories and experiences to create explanations and narratives to suit our purposes.

As a personal example--months ago I mentioned our Senator Ted Stevens and the legal troubles he was encountering. I'm pretty cynical of the situation, I didn't vote for Stevens and figured justice had been served when he was pronounced guilty.

Later new evidence surfaced that the prosecution hadn't presented an honest case. That they hadn't shared evidence that was potentially exculpatory. In the end the verdict was thrown out and the prosecution backed down on having a new trial which left Stevens a free man. My sister, a firm Stevens supporter made a comment to the effect of "See! I told you he was innocent."

Perfect example of the narrative fallacy. Stevens' conviction was overturned because of prosecutorial misconduct and because my sister supported our longtime Senator she created the explanation that he is innocent. Me? Just as bad because I thought he was guilty and said, "This proves nothing. The guy is still guilty and good riddance." We both had our opinions on the issue and looked for facts that supported our views, conveniently ignoring anything that didn't fit our theory.

It's human nature and we do it all the time but it's particularly dangerous when it comes from news media, politicians, bankers and economists because the rest of us are silly enough to listen to these false experts then rely on the narratives they've created.

Another thing we're susceptible to is thinking we can predict the future. Unless you have divine powers on your side (and I'm not going to get into the religious nature of that argument--Taleb doesn't touch it and neither will I) you simply cannot tell anything about where we're going. Nothing. Despite all the Monday morning quarterbacks springing up across the country you could not have predicted to any degree what has happened in America this past year economically. However, despite our rotten abilities to see ahead we continually try and then think we're being oh so astute and savvy, which only gives us a false sense of security and some inflated egos, ultimately causing even more harm by blinding us to our own blindness.

Anyway, I'll stop here. The book is fabulous, terrific, stunning and all that. I'd read it again and maybe this time around I'd been able to grasp more at the end when he gets into some of the deeper, more technical parts with fractals, Mandelbrotian theory and Gaussian curves (I think I understand it, the second time around helped but still . . . it's deep stuff). But don't let that scare you, it's quite readable and makes so much sense you wonder why you hadn't heard this before.

There you have it. You never know what you'll find here do you? Completely unpredictable isn't it?

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Warm Peach Summer Salad with Prosciutto

Oh the salads! Oh how I love the salads!

Can you believe Grace detests salads in all forms? She hates lettuce, hates crisp, crunchy cucumbers and peppers, hates anything green and leafy and fresh. What is wrong with that girl??

I've tried for 15 years to reform her but so far I'm losing. I can get her to force a salad down but she's not happy about it and has to constantly repress that gag reflex. I repeat: What is wrong with that girl??

Anyway, she had the misfortune to be born into a family that loves salads and we eat them all the time and this one freaked her out most royally.

But bad news baby, I loved it so it's going into the permanent collection. Someday she'll thank me.

As another quirky note to the tale, this particular salad calls for prosciutto and as we all know anything in its original Italian is terribly expensive, right? While prosciutto is just fancy cured, thinly sliced ham I wanted to give the family a taste of the good stuff that night so when I served dinner I handed out salads, each with a cute little curl of meat delicately rolled on the side.

But wouldn't you know it the pagan dogs turned their noses up at it! Two bucks of paper thin meat on their plate and they didn't want to eat it.

It was the end of a long day and faced with the option of forcing them to eat something they didn't want and casting my pearls before swine (or swine before swine I suppose you could say) I gave up right there and with a growl reached across the table and snatched the prosciutto off of each of their plates and munched it down right there in front of them.

It was fabulous.

8 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto
3 peaches at room temperature, peeled and cut into eight wedges
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme
2 tablespoons blueberry balsamic vinegar (or regular balsamic in a pinch)
1 1/2 cups fresh corn
2 chicken breasts, thinly sliced
6 cups loosely packed arugula

Arrange the prosciutto in pretty little curls on 4 dinner plates along with the arugula.

Place the peaches in a bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Heat the butter over medium heat until the foam subsides and the butter has turned light brown. Add the bay leaf, thyme, peaches, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss for 1 minute then pull the peaches out of the pan and divide over the four plates. Add the chicken and saute for three minutes until cooked then add corn and saute another minute. Divide the mixture over the plates.

Serve immediately--you can also drizzle any extra leftover butter and balsamic mix over the plates if you wish.

***

And if that salad wasn't enough to send my teen shrieking in terror you can imagine her joy when she saw I'd been sent Simply Salads by Jennifer Chandler to review.

And more bad news Grace, it's a great book.

Of course I do love getting cookbooks so I'm not exactly a hard sell but this one seems to really be a good one and I'll tell you why:

1. Salads are always great. You can eat them as sides or as mains, they're healthy, they're fresh and they're good with my other three favorites: pasta, soup and sandwiches. So right off, I love the subject.

2. I've never met a salad I didn't like. Seriously. Never. Oops--except deli potato salad. I despise that stuff so I guess that's the only one I don't eat. Out of over 100 recipes I'm not seeing any that don't look terrific.

3. This cookbook has a picture for every recipe. Yes, you read that right, a full color photo for every recipe. On every page. I know that publishers have a hard time doing that but I'll tell you it's an absolute must for me when I'm cooking. I have to have a goal and a picture gets me know what I'm shooting for.

4. There are some salad staples like the basic Caesar but with over 100 recipes you also get Warm Fingerling Potato Salad, Warm Wild Mushroom Salad, Baked Polenta Salad, Pink Lady Apple Slaw and Wild Flower Herb Salad. All looking very beautiful, very delectable.

5. These salads are all designed to be made with pre-packaged, washed and ready-to-go greens from your supermarket. Chandler outlines the different varieties and what "spring mix" or "triple hearts" mean and gives you recipes where you can use them. All fast and easy and in half the time of regular salad preparation. Love it!

So look out Grace, I fear your next three months will come to be known as Summer of the Salads. Muahahahaha!

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Aqua Sphere Swim Giveaway

It's summer in a big way here and I've got such a great package to give you this weekend!

I've been learning how to kayak in preparation for a camping/kayaking trip next month in Valdez and I met up with Aqua Sphere, a company that makes fantastic active swim wear for just such an occasion.

They sent me some of their goggles, a kid sized Stingray Core Warmer and a lady's Aqua Skin to try out and after giving them a go I don't think I could sing enough praises.

The thing about water in Alaska is that it's cold. Really cold, even in summer and I used that Aqua Skin while in the kayak when I had to flip myself over and escape underwater and I don't think I could have done it very well without the gear. I was so nice and warm that the water even felt good.

Anyway, I was very impressed with the suit and will be bringing it on my kayaking trip--because the water will be even colder than it was at the lake where we practiced. They seriously saved my life!

So if you're planning on being in the water at all this summer you really ought to check out their line of products--keeping your muscles warm in cold water is not only more comfortable but it prevents injuries. And besides keeping you warm in the water Aqua Skins are good for sun protection to keep your skin safe too.

The company has generously offered the same package they sent me including:

• Seal Kid Swim Mask
• Stingray Core Warmer
• Kaiman Lady Goggles
• Aqua Skin Lady Full Suit

To get your name in the pot for the giveaway see the directions below and give Aqua Sphere a good look--they'll keep you warm all summer. You'll be seeing more pictures of my kayaking next month!

Here's how to win:

Before 12 am Monday morning click here to reach the giveaway entry form then enter your name and email. I will pick one of the names at random, contact the winner via their email and publish the winner's first name and home town in next Tuesday's post. See the bottom of the entry form for more details.

This giveaway is open to readers with a U.S. address, good luck!

Sun, Sun, Sun Here It Comes

I have been very much into terrariums lately. If it's glass and it's in my house, odds are it has a plant in it.

This tea cup pouring out an ivy is hanging in my kitchen window where I can see it and think happy thoughts about summer in Alaska.

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