In honor of Michael Dahl's new book,
Hocus Pocus Hotel, I'd like to share my recipe for magical Hocus Pocus Brushcetta. With gardens full of fresh tomatoes and basil, it is the perfect season for this treat. What makes it magical? It is always quick to disappear!
Hocus Pocus Brushcetta5 medium tomatoes, chopped small
1/2 medium onion, diced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
10 leaves of basil, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Mix all of the ingredients and serve on crackers or toasted garlic rounds.
Be sure to visit
www.hocuspocushotel.com to read a chapter from the book, watch a book trailer, and much more!
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| Hocus Pocus Bruschetta is kid-approved too! |
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| Two friends, torn apart. Soli and Lucy argue, and then Lucy disappears, taken by the faeries who live in the forest near their homes. Can Soli save her friend, even if it means facing the biggest dangers she's ever experienced and going up against the Willow Queen? |
You might remember back in October when
Art Director Kay Fraser wrote about Faerieground, a new
series filled with gorgeous art, intriguing stories, and the mysterious world of faeries. The series is co-authored by two of our own, Kay and Beth Bracken, and it has been fun to watch it develop from a strong initial idea to an absolutely beautiful finished product.
Faerieground is the inspiration behind this week's Foodie Friday post. I took an informal poll and got all sorts of ideas about what faeries, or fairies, eat. According to experts ages two to teenage (plus one 22 year old), this is what they eat:
Belle: pumpkins from a garden
Kathryn: peas, cherries, and water
Amelia: strawberries
Nolan: leaves (actually lots of boys figured they eat leaves)
Taylor: cake!
Jacob: leaves
Sam: rabbits (Mom guesses that Sam believes in slightly vicious fairies!)
Izzy: glitter (she is definitely on to something here)
Kaleb: stars (isn't that magical?)
Quinn: Cherrios
Anna: flowers
Sophie: nectar from flowers
Luke: more leaves!
Kenedy: fruit
Jaimie, our 22-year-old: Pixie Stix (of course!)
Hannah: leaves
Eliot: pizza
Owen: breadsticks (I would like to be a fairy at Eliot and Owen's house)
Benny: grass (the perfect side to all those leaves
Emma: teeth and marshmallows (fairies must like both squishy and crunchy foods!)
Ashley: candy
Baylie: fruit
Kaleb and Quinn's mom had lots to say about what faeries like to eat. (She got some help from the
Faery Hunters.) They love naturally sweetened foods, nothing artificial. Honey cakes, honey milk, sweet butter...yum! Legend has it that if you set out some of their favorite foods, they cannot resist. It might look like they haven't touched it, but faeries are magical: They can gain nourishment from the food's "essence."
This week we caught up with Art Director Bob Lentz, recently returned from San Diego Comic Con. If there are two things Bob loves, its comics and food. So why not combine them in a special Foodie Friday interview?
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Q. What was the best meal you had at Comic-Con?A. Sushi. It doesn't get much fresher than on the coast. However, the Korean BBQ street tacos I ate were equally as good. Loaded with spicy beef and kimchi, they were delicious. The cuisine in San Diego is varied, but you can never go wrong with tacos of any kind. Actually, you can never go wrong with tacos anywhere. In the world. Ever.
Q. According to your expertise, what do superheros like to eat?
A. Hostess Snack Cakes. Back in the 70s and 80s, comic books would always run these little comic strip advertisements of Spider-Man or Batman saving a group of kids and then they'd all enjoy a Twinkie or a Ho-Ho together. The strangest one I ever saw was I believe the Hulk or Spidey enjoying a Hostess Fruit Pie with Meatloaf (yes, THAT Meatloaf) after his concert. For real. You can't make it up.
Q. If Comic-Con 2012 was food, what food would it be and why?
A. Hmm. The easy answer would be goulash, because Comic-Con is a little bit of everything that popular culture has to offer, all blended into a very large 9x13 casserole dish. But if you want the hard facts, I would say that Nacho Cheese Doritos + Mountain Dew + Slim Jims + donuts + Skittles + frozen pizza + Taco Bell + coffee = Comic-Con.
Q. What snack will you feast on while watching The Dark Knight Rises this weekend?
Whatever my wife smuggles into the theater. My money is on Junior Mints.
Q. All food aside, could you sum up your experience in San Diego in 150 words or less?
A. How about 10 PHOTOS or less?
Kids are mesmerized by Capstone's books…
…but, of course, choosy big sisters, parents, and librarians already know that!
And all of them were smitten by our EXCLUSIVE 24-book box set of DC Super-Pets hardcovers,
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| When someone takes my food, I get crabby! |
I've had the pleasure of writing a number of picture books for
Little Boost, a series that addresses typical preschool challenges in sweet and humorous ways. If you read the ones I wrote, you might notice something. My characters tend to get mad over food, even though food has nothing to do with the theme of the books!
So why does food anger keep showing up in my books? Well, the answer is somewhat personal: I hate to share delicious things. Those preschool emotions come from my real life experiences of being a selfish foodie. Consider the following:
- If someone takes the last brownie, it puts me in a funk. I just can't shake my sadness. So it's no wonder that Roger from Crabby Pants gets mad when his brother eats the last frozen waffle, leaving him with cereal.
- I once returned a cookie at Starbucks because it did not have an adequate number of peanut butter candy chunks. So is it any wonder that You Get What You Get's Melvin gets annoyed if his sister's cookie has more chocolate chips than his cookie?
- Like the bear in Eleanore Won't Share, I'm good at sharing things I don't really like. Eleanore shares the black jelly beans. I share the green ones. And when my kids want a piece of fruit, I push the apples so the nectarines will be there for me later.
Looking at these facts, I can see that this is not a flattering situation. Deep down, I know that food tastes better when it is shared with those you love. And lets be honest, like most women my age, I need to consider portion control — sharing would help with that. But until I'm ready to change my selfish ways, I think I will bake more brownies and buy more nectarines. As Roger and Melvin and Eleanore know, doing the right thing is hard sometimes. It takes time. But I suppose it's worth it in the end.
Great blog post! My favorite part was the 9x13 casserole dish of junk food :)