Rite of Fancy

A short summary of the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother: Parenting done strict.



Questions I pondered while reading Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother: Do we demand too much or too little from our children?
Is it possible to enjoy what I can't do well?
My thoughts about Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother: Controversy-free books are boring.
Do we really have any right to judge?
I don't think I was the parent of the year so...

I made a major haul at the farmer's market this weekend, and then of course realized I bought a whole bunch of cucumbers.

Rather than just add them to tossed salad, I perused one of my favorite historic cookbooks - The Women's Institute Library of Cookery, published 1917- and found a recipe for a cucumber salad.

The original recipe says to cut 3 cucumbers in half, hollow them out and use them for serving (little cucumber boats).  I am neither that talented nor to I have enough patience.

The recipe also called for an unspecified amount of "salad dressing" and a pimento.   I didn't have a pimento, but I did have a gorgeous reddish purple bell pepper that I also picked up from the farmer's market.

For the salad dressing I used plain old ranch, adding 1 tbsp at a time until the salad was "dressed"

So here is my interpretation of the Cucumber Salad:

3 cucumbers, peeled and diced
1 cup diced tomato (I used cherry tomatoes)
2 stalks celery
1 bell pepper
…

A short summary of the book Prince of Tides: What Tom learned about himself during his sister's breakdown.




Questions I pondered while reading Prince of Tides: Is creativity the cause of or the result of mental illness?

Is it possible to completely recover from a tragedy?
My thoughts Prince of Tides: Dysfunction makes good stories, not happy ones.

Family secrets should be shared with one another.

Your past can haunt you forever.