The Silver Spoon Cookbook: review

The Silver Spoon Cookbook

My brother bought me The Silver Spoon as a present several years ago. I like to think of it as the Italian Joy of Cooking. It is laid out very similarly in terms of - you want recipes for leeks - there's a whole section on it. Want to know about pig parts, it's got graphs and more.

I have yet to make a recipe that hasn't been delicious. What is most amazing and cool about this book is that most of the recipes are very simple. Basically, your veg, butter and salt and pepper. The recipes really highlight the flavor of your basic ingredients and don't dress them up so that other flavors get in the way of your dish.

It is because of this book that I have come to love Ratatouille. If you had told me even five years ago that I would love that dish, I would have thought you were crazy. My husband and I are members of a CSA farm (http://gamblecreekfarm.org/farm/index.html) and this book is great for looking up whatever odd thing we got to find a recipe for it.  I just made the leek sauce that is good with pork and it's seriously yummy.

If you like to cook and you love your Joy of Cooking, as I do, you will probably come to love this book just as much if not more.  It has become my go to book to seek our recipes for ingredients I don't know what to do with. The techniques are easy and you will wonder why you ever thought cooking was difficult. Even making rice the Italian way is an enlightening experience. So much easier and so much tastier.  Enjoy.

Ethosuximide - a positive experience

My son was diagnosed with childhood absence epilepsy in January. He was prescribed generic Zarontin which is known as ethosuximide. Don't ask me how to pronounce that as no one seems to know. And while we're on the subject it's pronounced "absance" not "absense." (sigh)

As any parent would be, I was  concerned about how my son would tolerate this drug. Almost as much as I was concerned with the fact his brain was seizing up several times a day. Now that I understand that is indeed what is.was happening, it is hard to watch.

Anyway, I went online and did my research to see what sort of side effects this drug has. And they are terrifying. Blood disorders, lupus, grand mal seizures and more. However, there were also a few people who said the drug really helped them a lot.  My sense from all the reading I did was that this is a drug that is very specific to this particular type of epilepsy. If it turns out you don't have this type of epilepsy, it will aggravate whatever your real condition is. If, however, you do have this condition, it should do a very good job of controlling your seizures.

I wanted to write this post to let other parents dealing with this diagnosis know that my son is doing great on this drug. He has had no side affects. His blood work is fine (no negative effect there). His personality is the same as it always has been. No upset tummy, no rashes, nothing. All it does is control his seizures. And yes, it really does work. We just got back from an EEG and they were unable to induce a seizure in him, which, to my mind is nothing short of a miracle given how many he had been having. Homework time is now easy and takes just a fraction of the time it used to.

He has only been on this drug for 2 months now and his levels aren't where they need to be as his dosage is really low (about 1/4 of what is allowed for his weight ). His doctor figures it is better to start low and build up to the ideal level than start high. The only problem we have had is that because the dosage is low when the drug wears off he starts having seizures again. We have upped his dosage to see if that takes care of the problem, which I'm optimistic it will since when he gets a slightly higher dosage because, let's face it no one is exact in pouring out the exact amount prescribed, he does better.

The bottom line is this drug is working for my son and he hasn't had any side effects from it at all. So, if you wanted to hear a good success story with this drug, you've got one.

Book Review: Gray Locke The Witch of Clover Hill

I was telling someone about this book the other day, and after I told them the title, Gray Locke: The Witch of Clover Hill they started talking about how popular the Harry Potter books were and how great they are for kids. I kept saying, yeah - but witches don't exist because in Gray Locke's world, witches don't exist.  Seriously, they don't.

I read this book with my 6 year old son and he LOVED it and has asked me to read it to him again, which I will happily oblige as I really enjoyed the book too.  This is a book about a young boy who is very smart and very reality based. But that doesn't mean he isn't interested in things. He has quite a great imagination this kid.  In fact, he's a lot like my son. As we were reading it we kept saying, - wow - that's just like you. Everything from drinking ovaltine in the morning to playing with LEGOs.

As a Humanist parent, I liked the book because it shows just how much better the world is when you abandon your fears of the unknown and just go ahead and find out what the truth is. At it's heart, this book is a mystery and don't let the fact it is reality based fool, you, there is plenty of mystery there to sort out. You simply don't have to abandon reality to have a great supernatural mystery to solve.

My only complaint was that the book ended too soon. Gray Locke is a character I want to follow and get to know better as does my son. Fortunately, author C.A. Chicoine's has promised to follow Locke through out his childhood into his adult years so, C.A. get on that please!

Oh, and one last thing, C.A. is kind enough to provide links to various reality based details of his story and he provides the rules for two different marble games that are played in the book, and yes, my son and I are planning to play both games over the weekend!  It really is a great book and you will enjoy it.