Cool World Cooking for Kids

As I passed by the new non-fiction shelf I kept noticing a new cooking series called Cool World Cooking. The cover of Cool African Cooking looked absolutely delicious! After about the tenth time eyeing it, I decided I should just take the book home and try out the recipe because Librarians shouldn’t be drooling over library books all day! I made the Juicy Jollof Rice. While I can never remember the name, I do remember the first bite I took, it was amazing!

I own quite a few children’s cookbooks and most of the recipes have basic ingredients and avoid uncooked meat as well as using the stove. This series is very unique because the recipes are cultural and do not shy away from foods that kids may not have tried before. The recipe I used also involved cooking raw chicken. In general, I think the recipe that I made was very challenging for me, let alone a child. I certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable letting a child cook Juicy Jollof Rice without adult supervision and help, but working together to create this cultural treat would make a very engaging cooking lesson.

I was very impressed with the recipe that I made in this series and I am looking forward to trying “Amazing Mexican Rice” from Cool Mexican Cooking. If you want to try recipes from around the world, I would definitely check out Cool World Cooking!

Museum Day-Free tickets!

The Smithsonian Magazine is sponsoring Museum Day on September 24. Every household is eligible to receive two free museum admissions to participating Museums. It is so easy, just fill out this form online and your tickets will be sent to your email.

Crap

By definition, according to three writers, crap is more than going to the bathroom. It’s boastful language, cheap shoddy material, clutter, or “anything you would simply rather not deal with.” While the title Crap: How to Deal with Annoying Teachers, Bosses, Backstabbers, and Other Stuff that Stinks is not the most appealing title, the book really is filled with great advice for teens. Sure you have the toilet humor that says over your lifetime you will spend three years on the potty, there’s also other sound advice. I’m sure you’ve heard this one before (and if you are like me it didn’t do anything to help the situation at the time), choose your battles wisely. In two paragraphs, the authors simply state “Sometimes the bravest and smartest thing you can do is bite your tongue and let the issue pass.” From someone who’s mouth has gotten her into trouble on more than one occasion, this is great advice. Overall this book really cuts out all the crap. It is only 96 pages long, with fairly large print and lots of white (and brown) space on the pages, which means that the information is short, sweet, and to the point. So before you start your whining and complaining about all the crap in your life, you should give this book an hour of your time. Plus, if anyone sees you reading and they ask, you can honestly tell them that you are reading Crap.

Plein Air Painting at the Library

As a participant in the 6th Annual Zionsville Paint Out, Mary Grace Corpus was in search of a subject to paint. After driving around Zionsville this morning, she selected the northwest corner of the Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library; the three large windows caught her eye. She began painting at 7:45 am and completed her work around 1 pm. For this one day event, all participants selected a local view and painted outdoors in the open air. The works by participants of this year's Zionsville Paint Out, will be on exhibit at the SullivanMunce Cultural Center throughout the month of September.

If you are interested in learning more about plein air painting, the book Painting Indiana : portraits of Indiana's 92 counties is one of many books on this topic available at the library—it could inspire you to become a plein air painter.

Download Free Music and Learn a New Language at the Library!

Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library has always been a great place to borrow music CDs and language-learning kits. Now it’s a great place to download free songs and language learning courses.

Zionsville Library cardholders now have access to Freegal, a free music download service, and Rocket Languages, an online language learning database.

Freegal features hundreds of thousands of songs from Sony Music’s catalog of current hits and golden oldies, all available in the MP3 format and ready for downloading. Customers may search for songs by legendary artists or current pop stars.

Customers may access the new resources 24/7 from the Library’s website.

Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre Tickets

Hansel & Gretel are waiting for you. We have two free 4-packs of tickets to the Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre presentation of “Happily Ever After.” Show times are this Friday and Saturday, August 12 and 13, at 8pm at the Pike Performing Arts Center. Go early and check out the silent auction at 7pm.

Two separate winners will be drawn for each of the 4-packs of tickets on Thursday, August 11th at 5pm. To enter, stop in the Library and drop your name and phone number in the raffle box at the second floor adult reference desk.

Free Tickets!

We have tickets to give away, and we really want give our customers a fun Saturday night at the Street Dance and Taste of Zionsville! Please add a comment to our Facebook wall that mentions a book you read this summer. We'll randomly select two winners from all entries. Hurry, the deadline is today at 5 PM!

Free Tickets to Saturday's Street Dance

Did you download one of the 800 eBooks or audiobooks circulated this summer from our eIndiana Digital Consortium? If so, we would like to hear from you! Please write a brief book review about a title you read by midnight Thursday, August 4 and post it to our Facebook page. We will randomly select two reviewers, who will receive a pair of tickets to Saturday’s Street Dance and Taste of Zionsville. We will post the winners to our Facebook page by 10am on Friday, August 5 and tickets must be picked up by 5pm that day. Wanna dance? Write a review!