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This month’s session with my bookgroup for 8-12 year olds was all about “Sweets, treats and feasts”. Here are the activities that were planned:

1. Looking at cookery books, both for adults and children, and each finding a recipe we liked the sound of to photocopy and take home.

Cookery books included:

Cherry cake and Ginger beer is particularly worth pointing out as the focus of this cookery book are foods which feature in many children’s classics such as the Enid Blyton books, the Pippi Longstocking books and ‘What Katy Did’.

In a related vein, Scone with the wind features 72 literary inspired recipes, arranged by genre though this book’s primary focus is adult literature. If you’re ever after even more literary themed cookbooks, Goodreads has a list (thanks to @chaletfan for alerting me to this). One of the books on this list I would have liked to have included in my session is Fairy Tale Feasts by Jane Yolen but unfortunately it’s not easily available in the UK.

2. Finding a poem about food we liked and reading it to each other. The anthologies I had ready included:

Just for fun, here are two videos of poets reading poems about food:

Joseph Coelho – Halloween's crumble from CLPE on Vimeo.

3. Playing match the food with the book. Samples of food and books which include said foodstuffs were to be laid out on the table. By reading the blurb, and taking a look through the books (as well as using their general knowledge about any of the books they had already read) the kids were to be encouraged to match the food to the book using this handy printout:

Just in case you need some help matching the yummy things with the books here’s the key:

Turkish Delight – The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis
Marmalade – The Paddington Bear stories by Michael Bond
Marzipan – The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
Caramel wafers – The Tom Gates books by Liz Pichon
Bertie Bott’s Every Flavored Beans – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling
Peaches – James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Honey – the Winnie the Pooh stories by A. A. Milne
A lollipop – The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
Smarties – The Tracy Beaker books by Jacqueline Wilson
Vicious Viennese Whirls – Cakes in Space by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre
Mints – The Lockwood and Co stories by Jonathan Stroud
Pink wafers – Knitbone Pepper Ghost Dog by Claire Barker and Ross Collins
Broccoli – The Astounding Broccoli Boy by Frank Cottrell Boyce (What, you don’t think broccoli is a treat?!
Bourbon Biscuits – Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens
Chocolate Creams – Mistress Masham’s Repose by T.H. White
Whipple Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (I printed this wrapper to go around a chocolate bar)
Iced buns – The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow by Katherine Woodfine

If you wish to use the printout, you can download it here (pdf).

After completing the matching, the sweets and treates were to be “raffled off” to the kids – by pulling raffle tickets out of a box (no money exchanging hands), and taking home whatever sweet treat(s) matched their number. Yes, including the broccoli…..

4. Writing our own “ideal feast” in a circle, each adding words/phrases as went around, aiming to be descriptive and bold.

Very sadly for me, for the first time ever, no-one turned up to the book group (a drop in session) :-(. But all the treats were donated to the local foodback, and at least all the planning hasn’t gone to waste as I’m able to share it here with you!

For a completely different take on theming a children’s book group around chocolate and sweets, do take a look at this free Chatterbooks Activity Pack on the theme.

For your own delight and delectation, I heartily encourage you to check out The Little Library Cafe and The Piebrary both of whom regularly post book-inspired recipes on their blogs.

Lots of book friends helped me gather ideas for this session. Thanks go to each and every one of you, especially friends on twitter and in the Reading for Pleasure in Schools Facebook group. Additional food suggestions, which I didn’t make use of for my bookgroup but which might be useful for you, include:

Strawberry creams – Jane Elson’s A Room Full of Chocolate
Gobstopper – Boy by Roald Dahl
Scones – The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo
Raisins – Danny, the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
Doughnuts – Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl
Boiled Eggs – Five Go Off in a Caravan by Enid Blyton
Aniseed Balls – Milly Molly Mandy by Joyce Lankester Brisley
Gingerbread biscuits – The Pippi Longstocking stories by Astrid Lindgren

Sugar has had an important hand in many facets of history, not all of it fun and games (but certainly not all of it dreary, either). Did you know fudge played a huge part in American women's college education? or that slavery in sugar plantations was rampant? We asked Darra Goldstein a number of questions on sugar and its history, unearthing the good, the bad, and everything in between.

The post Darra Goldstein on the history of sugar appeared first on OUPblog.

Jonathan Green, an expert lexicographer and contributor to The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, gives us the rundown of the sweet terms and phrases that have been re-imagined and incorporated into slang.

The post Going sour: sweet words in slang appeared first on OUPblog.

Incorporating the idea of sweetness in songs is nothing new to the music industry. Ubiquitous terms like "sugar" and "honey" are used in ways of both endearment and condescension, love and disdain. Among the (probably) hundreds of songs about sweets, Aaron Gilbreath, essayist and journalist from Portland, Oregon, curated a list of 50 songs, which is included in The Oxford Companion of Sugar and Sweets.

The post A sugar & sweets music mixtape appeared first on OUPblog.

In many parts of the world, Christmas does not lack in spirit or rich flavors. Though sweets are a major highlight to this festive holiday, there are quite a few notable savory foods to consider. As you are sitting down to your third helping of turkey, take a look through just some of the Christmas foods people will be eating this year:

What sorts of Christmas foods do you have every year? Let us know in the comments below.

Headline image credit: Christmas decoration. Image by Hades2k. CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr.

The post A smorgasbord of Christmas foods appeared first on OUPblog.

        

Related Stories

• A look at Thanksgiving favorites
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• A map of the world’s cuisine

 

There is an unquantifiable amount of different types of food across the world, ranging from lesser known edibles like elephant garlic and ship’s biscuit to more familiar foods like chocolate and oranges. In the newly updated Oxford Companion to Food, readers will discover more than 3,000 comprehensive entries on every type of food imaginable, and a richly descriptive account of food culture around the world. The Oxford Companion to Food contains facts sure to delight foodies of all ages.

Welcome to Oxford University Press’s restaurant. We’ll take your coat. It’s time to find out just how much you know about the food you eat.

Headline image credit: Fruit and Veg, by Garry Knight. CC-BY-SA-2.0 via Flickr

The post What’s your gut feeling? appeared first on OUPblog.

        

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This self Portrait Project is getting out of hand, and I like it!
Doing self portraits gives me the opportunity to try out many techniques, and it gives me a lot of practice on making a portrait that looks like me (so far I haven't succeeded many times, but I'm having a lot of fun anyway)

On this selfie, I got a response that it had a little bit of 'the Shining' feel to it. I thought, 'now there's a fun idea! I'll try a drawing based on that famous film still of Jack Nicholson's 'heeeeere's Johnny!'

By Georgia Mierswa

This Valentine’s Day-themed tech post was supposed to be just that—a way to show that all that sexy metadata powering the Oxford Index’s sleek exterior has a sweet, romantic side, just like the rest of the population at this time of year. I’d bounce readers from a description of romantic comedies to Romeo and Juliet to the three-act opera Elegy for Young Lovers, and then change the Index’s featured homepage title to something on the art of love to complete the heart shaped, red-ribboned picture.

I didn’t do any of these things. I got distracted. As it turns out, searching the word “chocolate” (“It is not addictive like nicotine but some people, ‘chocoholics’, experience periodic cravings”) reveals a whole smorgasbord of suggested links to delectable food summaries and from my first glimpse at the makings of a meringue, I was gone—making mental notes for recipes, stomach rumbling, eyes-glazing over. Mmm glaze.

In the end, my “research” was actually quite fitting to the season. Because, really, when it comes to Valentine’s Day in the 21^st century, only a handful of things are reliable and certain—and almost all of them are made with sugar.

Best Mouthwatering Dessert Descriptions

• Mousse
• Meringue
• Baklava
• Profiterole
• Tiramisù
• Turkish delight
• Wafer
• Mille-feuille

Best Quote About Doughnuts…or Anything

“When Krispy Kremes are hot, they are to other doughnuts what angels are to people.”
– Humor writer Roy Blount Jr, New York Times Magazine

Best Etymology Entry

→   Snack was originally a verb, meaning ‘bite, snap’. It appears to have been borrowed, in the fourteenth century, from Middle Dutch snacken, which was probably onomatopoeic in origin, based on the sound of the snapping together of teeth… The modern verb snack, ‘eat a snack,’ mainly an American usage, is an early nineteenth-century creation.

Top 5 Favorite Random Food Facts

1. Attempts to can beer before 1930 were unsuccessful because a beer can has to withstand pressures of over eighty pounds per square inch.
2. Brownies are essentially the penicillin of the baking world.
3.  Boston is the brains behind Marshmallow Fluff.
4. There is such a thing as the “Queen of Puddings” …and it sounds amazing:
→   Pudding made from custard and breadcrumbs, flavoured with lemon rind and vanilla, topped with jam or sliced fruit and meringue.
5. Cupcakes are known by some as “fairy cakes”.

Best Relevancy Jump

The overview page for “cake”….

→   Plain cakes are made by rubbing the fat and sugar into the flour, with no egg; sponge cakes by whipping with or without fat; rich cakes contain dried fruit.

….leads to a surprising related link: “Greek sacrifice”

→   Vegetable products, esp. savoury cakes, were occasionally ‘sacrificed’ (the same vocabulary is used as for animal sacrifice) in lieu of animals or, much more commonly, in addition to them. But animal sacrifice was the standard type.

The Entry I Wish I Hadn’t Found:

→   Flaky crescent-shaped rolls traditionally served hot for breakfast, made from a yeast dough with a high butter content. A 50‐g croissant contains 10 g of fat of which 30% is saturated.

Best Food-Related Band Names

• Martha And The Muffins
• Milk and Cookies
• My Friend The Chocolate Cake
• Sam Apple Pie
• Ice Cream Hands

 
Best Overall Summary of What Food Is

→   Food is a form of communication that expresses the most deeply felt human experiences: love, fear, joy, anger, serenity, turmoil, passion, rage, pleasure, sorrow, happiness, and sadness.

Georgia Mierswa is a marketing assistant at Oxford University Press and reports to the Global Marketing Director for online products. She began working at OUP in September 2011.

The Oxford Index is a free search and discovery tool from Oxford University Press. It is designed to help you begin your research journey by providing a single, convenient search portal for trusted scholarship from Oxford and our partners, and then point you to the most relevant related materials — from journal articles to scholarly monographs. One search brings together top quality content and unlocks connections in a way not previously possible. Take a virtual tour of the Index to learn more.

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Image credit: Croissants chauds sortis du four. Photo by Christophe Marcheux/Deelight, public domain via Wikimedia Commons

The post Comfort food appeared first on OUPblog.

Here's a quick digital painting for this week's Illustration Friday. Cupcakes have become so popular in recent years and you will be too if you take them to work or school.I suffer from a fierce and demanding sweet-tooth, but so far the trendy cupcake has failed to seduce me. Cookies, ice cream, and tiramisu - I'm still yours and yours alone. For now....

Kerry of Picture Books and Pirouettes recently awarded me The Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award. Thankyou Kerry!

Recipients of this award are encouraged to:

It’s not so long since I shared some random facts about me, so instead I’m going to share seven books about sweetness and baking that I love and think you’ll enjoy:

Baker Cat by Posy Simmonds
Cake Girl by David Lucas
Biscuit Bear by Mini Grey
Yum Yum! by Mara Bergman and Nick Maland
Who Made This Cake? by Chihiro Nakagawa and Junji Koyose
The Donut Chef by Bob Staake
Sweets by Sylvia van Ommen

Photo: Terren in Virginia

And here are some very lovely, inspiration blogs that I really appreciate, and hope you’ll explore too:

jama rattigan’s alphabet soup
Kat Cooks the Books
Reading, Writing and Recipes
Storytelling, cooking and kids!
Children’s Books for Grown Ups – look out for Natasha’s Bookish Bites!
Maison Cupcake
The Tea Box

Thank you Kerry once again for the award, and for the opportunity to share some sweet book suggestions and super blogs!

Now Playing -   I Will Survive  by The Puppini Sisters Life -      The other night, at 3am, while I was straining to concentrate on my PTCB studies, I decided that I needed a cookie. But not just any cookie. I needed the motivation that comes from a hot, crispy-chewy-scrumptious cookie that can only come from cooking the thing yourself. So I hopped over to AllRecipes and found a basic

I made the mistake of walking into a small candy shop in the village. I'm not a huge devourer of sweet things, but I am hugely attracted to their bright colours, shapes and oh-so tempting shine. These liquorice allsorts for example ... they were far too gorgeous to resist: I just had to draw them. There's a whole bag of them sitting on my desk now looking quite mournful at being so intently ignored -- so if any of you would like some, you're welcome to come over and have as many as you wish ... Cheers!

A week ago, Ryan at POM Wonderful offered to send me a case of pomegranate juice to welcome me back to blogging; how could I say no?

After receiving the shipment, I immediately began to think of ways to incorporate those antioxidant filled juices into my diet. Aside from the obvious option of drinking the pom juice, I wanted to create something that I knew my family would enjoy.

I went to something foolproof: I made ice cream. And it’s okay, that I’m feeding my family ice cream, because it’s got antioxidants, right?

Pomegranate Ice Cream

• 1 cup pomegranate juice
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 1/4 cups cream

1. Combined pomegranate juice and lemon juice.
2. Add sugar to liquids and whisk until dissolved.
3. Add cream.
4. Whisk until soft peaks form.
5. Freeze for at least for hours (or overnight).

Enjoy.

Little Gold Sweet, oil on canvas, 2.5 x 3.5 inches, 2010

The Blue Mint
oil on gessoed ragboard, 2.5 x 3.5 inches, 2010

My grandfather used to keep a stash of these in his pockets.

I've become horribly addicted to these chocolate dipped peanut brittle snacks. Delicious. Had to give the last lot of them away to a friend before I turned into one!

Happy 2009 to everyone!

Peanut Brittle Card at Zazzle

Temptation is difficult to resist, especially when I'm tempted by such attractive morsels like the macaroons above, so brightly coloured and scrumptious looking. Fortunately I find them far too sweet for my taste and am happy to admire the way they look, draw them and leave them for others to enjoy.

I'm finally moved into my new quarters and hope that in a few months this will become my permanent home. Fingers crossed. In the meantime I am so loving being here and the settling down process is being helped along by the presence of a good friend, good food and beautiful surroundings. It's taken time away from blogging, commenting, getting inspired visiting other sites and, most important, drawing! But I refuse to get stressed over it as I know that soon enough it will be winter and I will have tons of time to concentrate on art and work.

Macaroons Card at zazzle

Canadian children’s author Laurel Dee Gugler guests on this week’s Book Bites for Kids.

Book Bites for Kids host, Suzanne Lieurance, finds out about Laurel’s new book Catching Forever, and many of her other picture books for young readers.

Listen to the interview HERE.

Find out more about Laurel’s books here.