NY Foodie Family

Five on Friday {In Like a Lion}

Posted on March 9, 2018 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

March has truly come in like a lion. We have had two major storms in less than a week. The kids have not been in school since last Friday! Goodbye spring break, since they’ve used all their snow days and then some! March was supposed to be a super busy month for us, but many events have been cancelled or postponed. Spring cannot come soon enough! We have had sad news from various family members as well, making it a not-so-great week. However, there have also been several happy moments as well which I shared in Wednesday’s Rocking My Happy post. Here are five from this week:

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Reading – I just finished reading Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan. I’m not sure if I’m getting tired of the suspense genre or I’m just picking not-so-great-books. But this was just an okay read for me.

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Watching – Sunday we went to see Black Panther. My son had been really wanting to see this movie. While I almost passed on it, my husband convinced me to go and enjoy some time with the family. I have to admit that I enjoyed this movie a lot more than I thought I would. We also watched Wonder. They did a great job turning the book into a movie.

Family Time – Last weekend we went out to lunch and then went duck pin bowling. I’ll have a post up on the blog soon! But for those unfamiliar, duck pin bowling uses smaller pins and smaller balls. I hadn’t been duck pin bowling since I was a child myself. It was different and fun family experience.

Eating – Before we went bowling last weekend we stopped for lunch at JK’s Restaurant. My husband ate here when he was a kid. Since we were in the area bowling he suggested we have lunch here. We enjoyed this delicious spread and shared some milkshakes. Definitely not a healthy meal, but pretty tasty!

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Listening – I found a new podcast that I’ve been enjoying. Forever35 is hosted by Kate and Doree. The two talk all things beauty, nutrition, and self-care. It’s fun to listen while I commute to work.

Sharing with Friday Favorites! Have a great weekend!

Rocking My Happy {3.7.18}

Posted on March 7, 2018 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Today we are enjoying another snow day as we get hit with the allegedly worst snow storm of the year. Within the past few days we have received a lot of sad news from our family and our community. It’s very difficult when you know people are in pain and you can’t do anything but offer words of encouragement. These events have made me even more grateful for everything I have. While it’s been difficult to be “rocking my happy” this week, I realize that self-care also includes mental health. Although these past few days have been rough, I’ve found that the little things can bring a smile or help me make it through the day.

Rocking my happy this week:

*Coffee and strawberry milkshakes.

*Not losing electricity during the bad Nor’easter we had last week and hopefully not losing power today as well.

*Giving up on reading a book that I wasn’t enjoying.

*Finishing reading A Wrinkle In Time with my son, right before the movie comes out.

*Having my parents over for a weeknight dinner.

*Not having to set the alarm clock last night.

Five on Friday {First Weekend in March}

Posted on March 2, 2018 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

(This post contains affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy for more information.)

Yeah, it’s Friday! Another week is in the books! I cannot believe how quickly the week went by. As I sit here writing this Thursday night, we are unsure if tomorrow will be a snow day. As of now, the previous rain we thought we were getting has turned into a possible 6 -12 inches of snow! It’s crazy after we had temps this weeks in the high 50’s! I can’t believe we are already in the month of March. This is a busy month for us, especially my son. He has a class play, science fair, Cub Scout Pinewood Derby and he stars as one of the leads in the 3rd/4th grade musical. It will be an exciting but busy month! Here’s an update for those of you who read about the audio book CD fiasco in last week’s Five on Friday. My husband took the CD player out of the car and was able to get the CD out. Phew! However, he discovered the CD player itself is broken. He’s going to replace it with another CD player. In the meantime, I’m without a car stereo. I’ve been listening to podcasts on my commute. I just miss the clock and not knowing what time it is while I”m driving! Here are five from this week:

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Reading – Yesterday I finished reading Before We Were Strangers by Renee Carlino. This was such a great contemporary romance. It was refreshing after all the suspense/thrillers I was reading and it was a very enjoyable read.

Supper Club – Last Saturday we had our monthly supper club get-together. This month’s theme was red, in honor of Valentine’s Day. I made a Roasted Red Pepper Soup and my husband made Strawberry Sorbet. Even though the kids don’t usually go to our supper club dinners, my daughter made brownie pops and red velvet cake pops for us to bring. She had gotten a Babycakes Cake Pop Maker and was excited to put it to use.

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Watching – Last weekend we watched the movie Dunkirk. This war-movie was nominated for many awards. I didn’t realize that the whole movie was about the evacuation of Dunkirk during World War II. My husband is a big history fan and enjoys these types of movies. However, I found the movie to be a bit slow and wasn’t the biggest fan.

Date Night – Last Friday night, my husband and I went out to dinner for an unplanned date night. My daughter was at a Girl Scout event and my son was invited to a friend’s for a sleep over. I realized that my husband and I were on our own for dinner. So, we went to a local, new-to-us restaurant and enjoyed a quick dinner date. We ordered wings, onion rings, nachos and milk shakes. Definitely not the healthiest of meals, but it was delicious!

Mother-Son Date – Sunday my son and I went into NYC. We had brunch at Charlie Palmer at the Knick and then went to see SpongeBob SquarePants the Broadway Musical. You can read more about our day in this week’s post. Brunch was delicious and even though I’m not a fan of the television show, the Broadway show was excellent!

Linking up with Andrea, Katie and April.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Brunch and a Broadway Show! {Charlie Palmer at the Knick and SpongeBob SquarePants the Musical}

Posted on February 28, 2018 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

(Thank you to the Charlie Palmer Group and SpongeBob the Broadway Musical for hosting us. As always, all opinions are our own.)

Dinner and a movie makes for a great date with your significant other. If you are looking for a fun day out on the town with your child, how about brunch and a Broadway show?! My children love breakfast foods. I know if we go out for breakfast they will always find something on the menu that they will enjoy. And, really, who doesn’t love bacon and eggs? For a super special parent-child outing, seeing a Broadway show is a real treat! Enjoying brunch before a weekend matinee ensures that you don’t get home too late. This is especially important when seeing a Sunday show, when your kids probably have school the next day!

My 9 year old son and I recently took a trip into New York City for a mother-son brunch and a Broadway show date. We started with brunch at Charlie Palmer at the Knick. This family-friendly restaurant is located on the fourth floor of the Knickerbocker hotel, in the heart of Times Square.

The decor of the restaurant is modern but inviting. As my son noted: “This is the fanciest-looking restaurant I’ve been to!” Chef Charlie Palmer creates American cuisine that is sourced locally from the Hudson Valley. For those on the hungrier side, the breakfast menu includes both a Continental and American Breakfast. The a la carte menu includes a couple of different omelettes, pancakes, waffles, french toast and more. The restaurant also has a different children’s menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Although my son sometimes orders from the adult menu, he opted for the buttermilk pancakes with fresh strawberries from the kid’s menu and added a side of bacon. After seeing the portion sizes, he could have likely finished a meal off the adult menu. As it was, he devoured his pancakes in record time. Breakfast is his favorite meal!

I ordered the Midtown Eggs Benedict. Two poached organic eggs were served on a potato rosti with Bearnaise sauce, surrounded by chunks of lobster. This was a decadent and delicious dish!

After we had ordered, a basket of pastries was brought to the table. We enjoyed these after our brunch to end our meal on a sweet note. My son especially enjoyed the chocolate-filled croissant. The flaky layers of pastry filled with a sweet chocolate filling was delicious!

I’m not going to lie. Prices at Charlie Palmer, even for breakfast, are on the higher end of the price spectrum. My eggs Benedict was definitely a splurge, priced at $26. However, if you are going to have a parent-child date, it’s nice to be a little fancy and treat yourself!

We had 11 AM reservations, which gave us plenty of time to eat before our 1 PM show. Our food arrived quickly after we ordered. However, we were not made to feel rushed at all. After finishing our meal, we sat a bit while I enjoyed my coffee. Service was excellent, with our server being attentive but not annoyingly so.

Charlie Palmer at the Knick is super close to many of the Broadway theatres. After our delicious brunch, we only had to walk a couple of blocks to the Palace Theatre to see the show. “Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob SquarePants…..” If you have tweens you are probably very familiar with that song! Did you know that the Nickelodeon television show made its Broadway debut this past December? I have to be honest, my son really wanted to see this musical. Me? Not so much. I’m not the biggest fan of the animated talking sponge. But guess what? I am here to tell you that you don’t have to be a fan of the show to enjoy the musical.

As soon as you enter the Palace Theatre you are transported into an underwater wonderland. From beginning to end, guests are treated to a feast for the senses. Giant fluorescent set pieces glow under black lights. The cast are dressed in bright, colorful costumes. The continuously changing sets are filled with lights, smoke and more. There are lots of sound effects and the songs are catchy. Most songs were written by artists like Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Plain White T’s, T.I. and more, specifically for this production. The show ends with bubbles, confetti and bouncing beach balls.

One of the first things you will notice once the show starts is that SpongeBob is not actually shaped like a sponge. Ethan Slater, does a phenomenal job in taking on the role of SpongeBob. He has the voice, gestures and even the laugh spot-on! Although you don’t have to be familiar with the characters from the show, it helps, so you can fully appreciate how well the show was cast. There is even a story line to the musical. Bikini Bottom is in danger of being destroyed by a volcanic eruption. While most of the residents want to leave, SpongeBob with the help of his friends Patrick and Sandy attempt to save their beloved home.

Although the audience was mostly comprised of families with children (right around my son’s age or younger), I think this show will appeal to the masses. For anyone who loves a good Broadway production, you will not be disappointed. SpongeBob SquarePants the Broadway Musical is a fun and entertaining show. This is a perfect musical for a parent-child/family day out and both my son and I give it two thumbs up!

The Details:

Charlie Palmer at the Knick
The Knickerbocker Hotel
6 Times Square
New York, NY 10036
(212) 204-4983

Hours: Breakfast 7 AM – 11 AM, Lunch 11:30 AM – 2 PM, Dinner 5 PM – 10 PM

Price: $$$ (breakfast – most entrees between $16-$30)

SpongeBob SquarePants the Broadway Musical
The Palace Theatre
1564 Broadway (47th and Broadway)
New York, NY 10036

Show Dates and Times: 7 PM Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2 PM Wednesdays, 8 PM Fridays, 2 PM & 8 PM Saturdays, 1 PM & 6:30 PM Sundays

Prices: (Depend on day/time, seat choice and availability) Tickets start at $49 balcony seating.

Five on Friday {2.23.18}

Posted on February 23, 2018 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Although this was a short week, it felt really long. I am so happy that today is Friday! This week the kids had Monday and Tuesday off from school for President’s Day. Even though the kids in the school district I work for had off all week, since I work in the district office, I only had Monday off. I’m fortunate that my husband has a flexible work schedule and can work from, which he had to do Tuesday. Tuesday and Wednesday the temps rose to almost 70 degrees! We were treated to an early taste of spring. But then the temps dropped yesterday and my kids even had an early dismissal from school because of sleet and freezing rain. I know that I’ve previously mentioned how I’m so over winter. This weekend is looking busy with our monthly Supper Club gathering Saturday night and a trip to New York City for my son and I on Sunday. Here are five from this week:

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Reading: I’m currently finishing up The Butterfly Gardener by Dot Hutchinson. This is definitely a dark, suspense-type of read and I am looking forward to reading the next two books in the series.

Watching: We have been super into watching the Olympics. Although this is Team U.S.A.’s lowest Winter Games medal count in decades, we have enjoyed watching and cheering them on.

Eating: Do you have a food bucket list of things that you want to try, whether they be local specialties or regional or international dishes? Or is that just me?!! Well, this Chickwich sandwich from Mason Sandwich Co. has been on my bucket list for awhile now. We finally made a visit Monday for lunch and I was not disappointed!

Car Stereo Fiasco – Although I don’t have a long commute, I have started listening to books on CD during my drive. This past week I finished up my first audio book. When I hit the eject button to to get the CD out it started making a funny noise and an error message appeared. Now, the CD is stuck in the car CD player. Did I mention that this is an audio book borrowed from the interlibrary loan system?!!! It’s not even from our own library. My husband is going to try to take apart the CD player and get the CD out. Otherwise, I’ll just have to pay the library for a new one.

Monthly Family Dinner – This week I posted about our new monthly family dinners. Our first family dinner was Albanian-themed and delicious. We skipped a B country this month because my son got The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook for Christmas and wanted us to make something from it. We had our second monthly family dinner last weekend and made the Chicken and Ham Pie. We chose the easy version and it was surprisingly tasty. However, the directions were not very good and the food to book/movie connections is a stretch for many of the dishes.

Linking up with Andrea, Katie and April. Have a great weekend!

Albanian Family Dinner {Monthly Family Dinner}

Posted on February 19, 2018 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Are you looking for a fun way to spend time as a family? Try having a monthly family dinner! I’m not talking about a dinner that you cook and you all sit down and eat together. I mean a dinner that the entire family cooks and eats together. I know that sit-down family dinners are important. However, during the week I am the one cooking dinner and most nights it’s just the kids and I eating together. One of my goals for 2018 was to have monthly family dinners where we cook an entire meal together.

Last month we had our first monthly dinner. We decided to start with an alphabetical country-themed dinner. For our “A” dinner we chose Albanian. For our Albanian family dinner we made Tave Kosi, Byrek with Spinach and Baklava for dessert. As seen from our menu, Albanian cuisine has Mediterranean influences.

Tave Kosi is the national dish of Albania, which seemed appropriate to make. It consists of lamb and rice baked with a yogurt and egg mixture. My husband and son adapted this Tave Kosi recipe. They halved the recipe and instead of lamb shoulder used ground lamb. They also used plain Greek yogurt instead of regular plain yogurt. This was a tasty comfort dish. The yogurt mixture made a sort of souffle on top of the ground lamb. The yogurt gave the dish a slight tang.

My daughter and I made the Byrek with Spinach (Byrek me Spinaq). This is a simple dish with few ingredients and is fairly easy to make. Phyllo dough can be a bit tricky to work with but we managed the best we could. This was a tasty dish and we all loved the crispy, flaky top.

For dessert, we enjoyed baklava. I forgot how much I love baklava. It’s a fairly easy dessert to make, minus that phyllo dough again. It’s very sweet, but addicting! We cut it into small squares and the whole plan was gone within a couple of days.

Tips for planning your family dinner:

The meal doesn’t have to be fancy….. – We all enjoyed this Albanian family dinner and are excited for next month’s dinner. You do not need to do an international-themed dinner. Pick your family’s favorite meal and maybe add a special dessert to the menu. The point of a family dinner isn’t to see how fancy of a meal you can make. It’s getting everyone into the kitchen and working together to cook a meal that you will all sit-down and enjoy.

…..But make the dining part of the meal special – Eat in the dining room, if you have one. We normally never eat in our dining room unless it’s a holiday or we have company over. Use the special plates and glassware! We ate on our wedding china and drank sparkling cider from our fancy wine glasses.

Choose dishes everyone will like – There’s nothing that will ruin a dinner more than making something you know your kids will not eat. If you have picky eaters, choose recipes that they are familiar with and enjoy. If you have more adventurous eaters, maybe pick new recipes with ingredients that they are familiar with and like.

Plan the date of the meal in advance – A weekend obviously works best for a family dinner and planning in advance ensures that there’s no other conflicting activities.

Start cooking early – I recommend starting earlier than later. Remember, you are cooking with kids. What may take you a half hour to cook on your own will likely take double the amount of time when children are involved. Plus, you don’t want to feel rushed or stressed. We started cooking at 4 PM and were eating by 5:30 PM.

January 2018 Reads

Posted on February 13, 2018 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

(This post contains affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.)

The second Tuesday of the month means that it’s time to join Steph and Jana’s monthly Show Us Your Books linkup. Each month many other book lovers share the books that they read the previous month and their review. This is a great way to get new book recommendations…..and my to-read list grows significantly! You will be seeing more non-fiction books this year in my monthly reviews, as one of my goals this year is to read at least one non-fiction book a month. I had a pretty good reading month in January in terms of quantity. However, quality-wise, a lot of my reads were just okay. Here are my January 2018 reads in order of least to most liked.

3 Stars

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I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll – While on a train, Ella Longfield overhears two young men just out of prison, chatting with two teenage girls. She later discovers that one of the girls, Anna Ballard, is missing. A year later Anna is still missing and Ella is receiving threatening letters. During an anniversary appeal, new evidence comes in and it appears everyone has been keeping secrets. This book is told through the perspectives of Ella (the Witness), Henry (Anna’s father), Sarah (Anna’s friend) and Matthew (the private investigator). Overall, it was just an okay suspense read for me.

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Close to Me by Amanda Reynolds – Jo Harding falls down the stairs in her home, hitting her head. She now suffers from partial amnesia and cannot remember anything that happened from the last year of her life. As she starts to piece together the details of her life before the accident, she realizes that everyone has been keeping secrets, including her two children. The story is told in alternating before the fall/after the fall chapters. I found this book to be too drawn out and the characters, especially the daughter, to be annoying.

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Little Broken Things by Nicole Baart – Sisters Quinn and Nora haven’t seen each other in almost a year. When Quinn receives a text from Nora that says I have something for you she is not expecting a little girl. Soon, their mother also gets involved in this little girl’s life and all the mystery that surrounds her appearance. This book is allegedly a “suspense/thriller.” As a huge fan of this genre, I was so disappointed with this book. This was more of a family drama that moved way too slowly for my liking.

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Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequest – The premise of this book drew me in, “leaving behind frantic for a simpler, more soulful way of living.” I had also seen and read a lot of positive reviews of this book. Unfortunately, I found this book to me more a memoir of Niequest’s quest for a more simple and soulful way of living, rather than giving the reader ideas. It was also a little more religious than I would have liked.

4 Stars

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The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman – I had heard the five different love languages (words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service and physical touch) referred to many times, but never read the book until now. I find the concept of having different love languages interesting and valid. There’s a quiz in this book if you are unsure of what your love language is.

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Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills – Paige and Iris break up and Claudia ends up overhearing the entire thing. Iris isn’t the friendliest of girls and unfortunately for Claudia, the two end up being partnered together to write a paper. They are then are forced to audition for the school production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream where Claudia is exposed to a whole new world of teenage life. This was a cute and fun YA read that shows the ups and downs of adolescence and adapting to change. I could have done without all the references to Battle Quest, a multi-player

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Fragments of the Lost by Megan Miranda – Jessa’s recent ex-boyfriend Caleb is dead and she feels like everyone blames her. So when his mom asks her to help box up his things, she says yes. As she does, she discovers things and learns more about him that make her question their relationship and whether she really knew him. I’ve read one other of Miranda’s books, The Perfect Stranger, but enjoyed this book a lot more. Although this YA mystery book was slow at times, it picked up mid-way and turned into a page-turner.

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The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan – My son and I had been reading this book together for almost 2 1/2 months and finally finished last month. This is the first book in The Heroes of Olympus series, a spin-off of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. In this book, Jason, Leo and Piper are brought together on a quest to save Hera from Gaea’s potential awakening. The book is told from the various points of view of the three main characters. This was my first Riordan book and I can see why so many tweens love his books. He sucks the reader in and his books are filled with humor and adventure.

5 Stars

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The Mother’s Promise by Sally Hepworth – Mother and daughter, Alice and Zoe, have always been a pair. But then Alice is diagnosed with late-stage ovarian cancer. She has no family to help her after her surgery and during her chemo treatments. Her teenage daughter Zoe suffers from severe social anxiety. Kate, one of Alice’s nurses and Sonya, her social worker are both dealing with their own personal issues, but they both help Alice and Zoe. I am not very familiar with anxiety and reading about Zoe’s anxiety issues made me feel anxious. I cannot imagine how difficult life must be for people living with the severe anxiety that she had. Beware, this book is an emotional tear-jerker of a read, but so good! I read one of her previous books, The Things We Keep and really enjoyed it. I plan on reading The Secret of Midwives soon and her soon-to-be released book, The Family Next Door.

Five on Friday {Done With Winter}

Posted on February 9, 2018 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

I cannot believe how quickly the week flew by! In case you want to celebrate, today is National Pizza Day. We are huge pizza lovers and enjoy our weekly homemade pizza! Wednesday we enjoyed another Snow Day and had a 2-hour delay yesterday. While we all enjoyed the day off, I am so over winter. The cold, the snow, shoveling……not a fan! Here are five from this week:

Super Bowl Sunday – We went to a neighbor’s house for a Super Bowl party. While I’m not a football fan, it was fun to see all the neighbors and enjoy good food and drinks. Some of us adults were playing Cards Against Humanity while the kids played and some of the adults watched the game. We stopped to see the half-time show and then headed out soon after because it was a school night.

Watching – Last weekend we watched the movie Miracle. It was fun to see since the Winter Olympic Games are just starting and we visited Lake Placid this summer and saw the rink that the real game was played on! Wednesday on the snow day we watched Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief. Both my kids read the book and enjoyed it. I didn’t even realize that there was a movie until I did a library catalog search. Although I didn’t read this book, we all enjoyed the movie. As for television, this week I watched the Super Bowl episode of This Is Us. As usual, I was in tears. I was happy to finally find out what happened to Jack. I didn’t watch the Tuesday episode yet, since I was getting caught up on The Bachelor!

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Reading – Since I’ve started working I haven’t had as much time to read. I’m still working on Eleanor Oliphant, which I mentioned in last week’s Five on Friday. I don’t have a long commute, but to get in some more reading time I’ve started listening to audio books. I’m currently listening to Live to Tell by Lisa Gardner and it’s a good one!

Family Time -Last night we went out to dinner with my parents and brother. He is moving to Pennsylvania tomorrow, so this was a last get-together before he leaves. We went out to Casa Rina, an Italian restaurant near my brother’s apartment. We don’t have Italian very often so it was a nice treat. I had lobster ravioli, a salad, eggplant rollatini and a chocolate cannoli. It was delicious and I was stuffed!

Eating – Last weekend we went out to lunch. At the request of my son we had Japanese. Have I mentioned how much he loves sushi? He hadn’t had sushi, “in sooo long” and enjoyed this sushi and sashimi platter.

ICYMI this week on the blog:

Tuesday I posted January 2018 Tween Reads.

Have a great weekend!

January 2018 Tween Reads

Posted on February 6, 2018 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

(This post contains affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.)

Here’s another monthly review of some tween reads. Each month I give a short summary of what my 9 and 11-year-olds have been reading. These are the books that they read outside of school for leisure, not the books that they are required to read as part of their school curriculum. If you are looking for new books for your own tweens to read, hopefully you can get some suggestions here.

READ BY THE 9-YEAR-OLD:

The Complete Guide to Greek Myths by Heather Dakota
Published by: Sandy Creek, 2015
Pages: 144
Source: borrowed from classroom library
Price: starting at $7.62 used
Rating: 4/5 stars

My son’s teacher has been focusing on non-fiction reading and he was required to read non-fiction books for his daily reading homework. He chose The Complete Guide to Greek Myths after reading Rick Riordan’s books (see below) and has become an expert on all things Greek mythology. This book is a collection of many of the Greek Myths.

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Creatures That Glow by Anita Ganeri
Published by: ABRAMS, September 1995
Pages: 30
Price: $19.95
Source: borrowed from classroom library
Rating: 3/5 stars

This is another non-fiction book that my son borrowed from his classroom library for his non-fiction reading homework. This book describes different creatures that glow-in-the-dark with illustrations. It includes everything from fireflies to angler fish. My son found this book informative but, “it wasn’t the best book ever.”

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Dog Man and Cat Kid by Dav Pilkey
Published by: Graphix, December 2017
Pages: 256
Price: $9.99
Source: borrowed from the library
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the fourth and newly released book in the Dog Man series. This graphic novel series is written by Dav Pilkey, the creator of Captain Underpants. My son enjoyed this book enough that he read it twice. In this bookDog Man has a new side kick, Cat Kid. The two must help find a missing movie star.

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Flora and Ulysses: the Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo
Illustrated by: K.G. Campbell
Published by: Candlewick Press, September 2013
Pages: 233
Price: $6.99
Source: borrowed from school library
Rating: 3/5 stars

When Flora’s neighbor runs over a squirrel with her vacuum cleaner he develops superpowers. Flora names him Ulysses, after the vacuum cleaner. The two form an unlikely friendship and when Flora’s mom tries to kill Ulysses she must save him. This book was the most recent selection for the school book club that my son attends. Although it is a 2014 Newbery Medal winner, my son and the other book club members weren’t big fans of this book.

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Inside the Whale and Other Animals by Ted Dewan
Published by: DoubleDay Books for Young Readers, May 1992
Pages: 48
Source: borrowed from classroom library
Price: from $4.90 used
Rating: 4/5 stars

This was another non-fiction book that my son read. He enjoyed reading and learning about the inner organs of various animals. He liked, “seeing the illustrations of the insides of the animals that we can’t usually see.”

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The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1) by Rick Riordan
Published by: Disney Hyperion Books, March 2006 (first published June 2005)
Pages: 375 pages
Price: $7.99
Source: own the book
Rating: 4/5 Stars

This is the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. 12-year-old Percy Jackson discovers that he is a demi-god and is sent to Camp Half Blood. Percy eventually ends up on a quest with Annabeth and Grover to find Zeus’ stolen lightening bolts and prevent a war between Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. My son received The Lightning Thief as a present and began reading this book after we had started reading The Lost Hero together (see below). There are five books in this series and he has already started reading book two! I also just discovered that this book was made into a movie, which we will hopefully watch soon!

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The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus #1) by Rick Riordan
Published by: Disney-Hyperion Books, October 2010
Pages: 557
Price: $9.99
Source: own the book
Rating: 4/5 stars

For the past several months my son and I have been reading The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan and finally finished it. This is the first book in The Heroes of Olympus series, a spin-off of Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. In this book Jason, Leo and Piper are brought together on a quest to save Hera from Gaea’s potential awakening. The book is told from the various points of view of the three main characters. These books are thick with small print. However, Rioradan is a great writer and these stories suck the reader right in. The book is filled with humor and lots of adventure. Since reading Riordan’s books, my son has become very interested in Greek Mythology and has been reading non-fiction books about the Greek Gods.

READ BY THE 11-YEAR-OLD:

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Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry
Published by: Feiwel & Friends, March 2017
Pages: 336
Price: $16.99
Source: borrowed from the library
Rating: 4/5 stars

Callie June has Tourette Syndrome and is nervous about starting another new school. Even though she is teased by her classmates, she is befriended by her neighbor Jinsong. He helps her feel comfortable in her new town. This novel is told in verse from the two points of view of Callie and Jinsong. My daughter liked this book because, “it showed the story of true friendship” and she learned about Tourette syndrome.

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I See Reality: Twelve Short Stories About Real Life by various authors
Published by: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, January 2016
Pages: 304
Price: $17.99
Source: borrowed from the library
Rating: 3/5 stars

This book is a collection of twelve short stories by different authors. This book is a YA book geared for older teens. Only after reading reviews of this book did I realize that my daughter probably shouldn’t have been reading this book, as it deals with abusive relationships, sexuality, pregnancy and addiction. My daughter felt it was an okay book. “There were such a wide variety of topics and only some of the stories were interesting.”

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It’s Not Me, It’s You by Stephanie Kate Strohm
Published by: Point, October 2016
Pages: 288
Price: $9.99
Source: ARC
Rating: 4/5 stars

Days before the prom Avery Dennis is dumped by her boyfriend. Then her American History teacher gives the class an oral history final project in which they are to interview adults about an event in American History that they had lived through. In her interpretation of the assignment Avery decides to conduct her own oral history to find out why she always ends up single. Thus, “It’s Not Me, It’s You: An Oral History of Boys” is written. This story is told as an oral history with each chapter consisting of Avery interviewing her ex-boyfriends. There is commentary from various friends and family members as well that offer different perspectives on the same events. The oral history format of this book is different and fun. Although the main characters in the book are seniors in high school, the content is mild enough for middle school readers. Readers will be able to relate to the topics of friendship, romance and jealousy. I received an ARC of this book last year to review for Kiss the Book and my daughter wanted to read it, after seeing it at her school book fair this past fall. She enjoyed the story and the format of this book, as did many of her middle school friends.

Five on Friday {The First of February}

Posted on February 2, 2018 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Happy Friday! I’m so happy that the weekend is here! Monday I started my first day of work. So far, everything is going well and we even got a surprise two-hour delay Tuesday morning. However, we are still adjusting to me being back at work full-time again and this mom is TIRED!!! My husband has been super helpful as we all adjust to this transition. This weekend will include some movie watching, taking my son to a friend’s birthday party and a Super Bowl party. The weather forecast is currently predicting snow Sunday evening into Monday. I’m over winter and hope the groundhog doesn’t see his shadow today! Here are five from this week:

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Reading – I have just started reading Eleanor Olphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Many people have compared this book to Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove and I can already see why. Eleanor is definitely a quirky character!

Eating – Last Friday my husband and I enjoyed a last lunch date. We went to a new-to-us burger restaurant, Burger Bistro & Bar in Thornwood. I had the Truffle Burger and my husband had the Wellington Burger. If you follow me on Instagram, you might have already seen my burger – it was topped with truffle aioli, balsamic portobello and brie on a black pepper brioche bun. They have over 25 different dipping sauces for your fries!

Watching – Who watches This Is Us?!! And who is excited to see the next episode Sunday evening after the Super Bowl? Well…..I actually won’t be up late enough to watch it Sunday. But I will hopefully watch it Monday and finally find out what happened to Jack!

Family Fun – Last Saturday we went to a Westchester Knicks game with the Binghamton University Alumni. Last year my husband started the Westchester County chapter. This was the second annual family alumni event. Although the Knicks ended up losing, it was a great game.

Link Love – My son loves sushi. I saw this recipe and think this is doable…..totally my style! A friend shared this article on Facebook. As a parent of tweens, technology is scary. We were fortunate to grow up in a time without cell phones and social media. This read only helps me reinforce my stand on no cell-phones until 13.

ICYMI this week on the blog:

Saturday I posted 5 Inspirational Fitness Quotes.

Tuesday I shared 28 Days of February Family Fun.