Laura Resau's Blog, page 7

Making Tortillas with my Lil Dude

 
Hi guys,
Happy fall to you!  
I want to share with you one of my 6-year-old's all-time favorite books, which inspired our recent tortilla-making:
 written by Pat Mora and illustrated by Rafael Lopez

It's a gorgeous, colorful book of haiku poetry about foods native to the Americas.  My Lil Dude knows many of the poems by heart now.  It's interesting how he often *thinks* he likes the Ninjago, Star Wars, Hotwheels, etc books best, but he doesn't actually enjoy them (and they're really painful for me to read-- there's not even an author-- it's like they're one big commercial-- unfortunately, he brings them home from school.)

This book, Yum! Mmmm!  Que Rico!, on the other hand, feels warm and happy and delicious, and has been a bonding night-time read over the years.  The other day, Lil Dude said he wanted to make tortillas.  (He has such a beautiful Spanish accent, it gives me shivers.) 

 
So I got some mazeca (corn flour with the mineral lime) from Safeway and followed the directions on the box (basically adding a little water.)  Instead of a tortilla press, we just used two smallish wooden cutting boards.  We used cut-out circles from plastic Safeway bags so the maza (dough) wouldn't stick.  Then we cooked them, without oil, on a cast iron skillet, and within minutes, we had tortillas!



For me, the whole process was a delicious flashback to my years in Oaxaca, helping make tortillas in smoky kitchens in Mixtec and Mazatec villages.  And it was so, so easy-- and so much fun for my son-- I can't believe we don't do this more often!

Our tortillas turned out small, like the ones we had in Guatemala on our visits as part of the adoption process. We brought our son home when he was 9 months old, and I'm sure he had bits of home made tortillas for those last couple months in Guatemala... I wonder if he has some vague taste-memory of them.

Speaking of my Lil Dude, he wants me to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks with him for the twentieth time now... and unbelievably, somehow those piercing, nasal voices are growing on me...

Bye!

xo,
Laura 

Upcoming Colorado Events (including one this week!)

Hi everyone,
I hope those of you in Colorado stayed safe during the recent flooding. My family and
home made it through fine, thankfully.Just want to let you local people know about a few events I have coming up: 
Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013 (in a few days!)
6:30 pm, Boulder Bookstore, Boulder, CO.  Fall Book Feast with Middle Grade Authors -- Join Melanie
Crowder, Jeannie Mobley, Jenny Goebel, and Laura Resau for a fun and
lively panel discussion about their novels for upper elementary and
early middle school readers. Free and everyone welcome!
And now, some introductions to these awesome Colorado writers, who also happen to be friends of mine!! Here's Jenny. 
   Here's her debut novel, which comes out this fall. I'm looking forward to reading it!    Here's Melanie Crowder and her beautiful debut novel, Parched, which came out this summer.

Here's Jeannie.    Her charming debut novel, Katerina's Wish, came out last year.    And I'll be focusing on my own debut novel from 2006, What the Moon Saw.  I get to talk about this a lot in school visits, but I haven't done a bookstore talk about thisfor a while... I'm excited! 

 Other Events coming up:

Saturday Nov. 2, 2013
2:30 pm, Global Village Museum, 200 West Mountain Ave., Old Town,
Fort Collins, CO. Presentation -- The Queen of Water: the True Story of an Andean
Girl's Journey. As part of the "Legacy of the Andes" exhibit, Laura
will discuss Maria Virginia's amazing story, their collaboration
process, and her research in Ecuador. You'll also get a glimpse into
Quichua culture and recent social issues. The presentation is
included with museum admission ($5 for non-members.) There will also
be live Andean music, played by Marie Louise Borak. You can read more
about the museum here. http://globalvillagemuseum.org
    Wed., Dec. 4, 2013
7 pm, Bas Bleu Theater, Fort Collins, CO. Mark your calendars for Old Town Writers' Group's
annual reading event (free, with refreshments and lots of fun)!
Please check my Events page in a few weeks for more details. (This
event is intended for grown-up readers.) http://lauraresau.com/events.html

Thanks, everyone! It would be fun to see you at one (or more) of
these events! Please spread the word to anyone
else who might be interested.

xo,
Laura

More Extreme Cuteness (of the Wee Library Variety)

Have you guys seen any mini libraries in your neighborhood?  A new one just popped up down the block from me!  Voila:

*If you click the image to enlarge, you'll see one of my books that I exchanged for Barbara Kingsolver's Small Wonders.*
Are these not adorable?!

The concept is this: You make a tiny, waterproof house and stick it in your front yard with a sign encouraging neighbors to borrow and donate books.


Here's the website of the Little Free Library movement, with instructions on how to build our own (and officially register it if you wish). And here is the mission:
To promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide.To build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity and wisdom across generations.

I'm hooked!  I want to do this with Ian and Little Dude sometime soon.  Maybe we could retrofit a large birdhouse or something... hmmm... I'll keep you posted.  In the meantime, happy reading to all...

xo,
Laura

Cute as an Exploding Cupcake

May I introduce you to the newest member of our family... 
Princess Wilma the Beagle!

About a month ago, I marched into the local shelter-- Animal House-- and said, "Give me your gentlest, sweetest, most kid-friendly dog. Small but not too small. Playful but not pushy.  Cuddly but not slobbery...."  My demands went on for a while, and at the end of my little monologue, the woman at the desk said, 
"Wilma's the dog for you!"

And she is! She's perfect.  (Well, we did discover a few minor imperfections, like wanting to be near us all the time, but we discovered those after falling in love with her.)
She's a rescue dog, about three years old, and we don't know much about her background except that she came from Arkansas.
Nope, those aren't real angel wings or fairy wings.... I was trying out her outfit for the Tour de Fat coming up in Ft Collins-- awesome, giant, zany-costume-filled bike parade that passes right by our house.
My Lil Dude is enamored of Wilma, utterly and completely.  He waxes poetic about her.  "Mommy!  Wilma's as cute as an exploding cupcake!"
(She is indeed as sweet as a cupcake... the exploding part comes with 6-year-old boy territory-- you know, explosions are just.... the bomb... for them, hehehe.  The icing on the cake.  Anything is better with an explosion...
Hope these back-to-school days are treating you well!
xo,Laura
P.S.  Boulder friends-- I'll be at the Boulder Bookstore on what's sure to be a lively panel with author buddies Jeannie Mobley, Melanie Crowder, and Jenny Goebel on THURS OCT 3, 2013 at 6:30. Come hang out with us!

Oh, Serendipity, I love you!

 Canvas Bowtop wagon, photo credit: Charlie Cox of The Irish Rose Farm
So, a couple weeks ago, we got a sweet little 3-year-old beagle named Wilma from the shelter (photos of Wilma to come in another post soon!)  Lil Dude and I brought her to the Farmer's Market last Saturday. You know how dogs almost magically introduce you to all kinds of interesting people?

Well, Charlie Cox was one of these people!  At his farm stand, he struck up conversation with me about Wilma and beagles... and one topic led to another... and next thing I know, he's showing me photos of his AUTHENTIC GYPSY WAGONS on his cell phone! 

It just so happens that all summer, I've been researching all things Gypsy/Roma/Romany/Rom for a new book! Don't you love serendipity?! 

 

I've got piles of books and CD's and DVD's about the Romany-- which are great and all, but I always crave real-life, in-person stuff when I'm doing research.  I like talking to people, going places, interacting, getting a completely multi-sensory experience so that I can make scenes come alive for readers.

Anyway, Charlie very kindly invited me out to his farm/ranch in north Fort Collins-- the Irish Rose Farm-- just a twenty minute drive from my house. He and his wife breed, show, train, and sell Irish Cobs, including "Gypsy horses," which led them to an interest in Gypsy wagons.

I drove out to his farm (so peaceful and beautiful) and discovered that this man is a sparkling treasure trove of knowledge about the Romany-- I felt like I'd just won the lottery, in terms of book research.  I love talking with passionate experts, listening to their stories, scribbling notes wildly in a little notebook.  Major research adrenalin rush.

Charlie has two Romany vardo (wagons), which he acquired in Ireland and had shipped here to the foothills of the Rockies.  (One of the deals was sealed by spitting into palms and shaking hands, Romany style.)

This one is called a Canvas Bowtop, built in the early1900's (1930's, I think). Charlie and his wife, Jan, take this to festivals in the region, showing how it's pulled by one of their Gypsy horses.


photo credit: Charlie Cox, Irish Rose Farm


Inside of the Bowtop, repainted in the 1980s.


 this is the front of the wagon-- driver perches on that little ledge


Detail-- this artist, Tom Stephenson, used a fruit motif

pretty scrollwork in classic Irish Romany colors


In the far back is the sleeping area-- a slide-out bed; the cast iron stove is for heating tea and giving warmth.

Charlie's other vardo is under renovation now.  It's a Burton Wagon, aka a Showman's wagon, built in 1914. The14 layers of paint were in bad shape, so he's stripping it and repainting it in Romany style.






Fascinating, no?!  I was captivated.  (For links to more pics, you can go to Charlie's website-- Irish Rose Farm.)  Thanks for swinging by!  Hope you enjoyed this little glimpse of my research-in-progress...
xoLaura

Travel Stories...

Hey guys,

Hope summertime is treating you well! I just got back from a lusciously green and rainy trip to Asheville, NC to see family.  Raindrops on leaves makes my soul sing.  There was plenty of this where I grew up in Maryland, and I miss it out here in Colorado. The ocean and bay and thick forests and rainy days are what I miss most.

So, although I don't have any new books coming out this year, I do have a true travel story appearing a couple places.  The first publication is this anthology:


Happily, my story won second place in this year's competition run by Travelers' Tales, the publisher.  (Note to my younger readers: this story, like most of my short travel pieces, is meant for an adult audience... so you'll have something to read in a decade or so. ;-)

Okay, here's the official description of the book:



Anyone whose passport has been stamped a few times knows the surest method of keeping the travel fire alive: by reading and telling stories from the road, passing them along like a torch in a relay race.
From Travelers’ Tales comes The Best Women’s Travel Writing Volume 9: True Stories from Around the World—the newest collection in the annual best-selling, award-winning series that invites you to ride shotgun alongside intrepid female nomads as they travel the globe to discover new places, people, and facets of themselves. The stories are as diverse as the destinations, the common thread being fresh, compelling storytelling that will make you laugh, weep, wish you were there, or be glad you weren’t. The Best Women’s Travel Writing speaks to the reasons why we embark on a journey, and why we keep doing it. 


In The Best Women’s Travel Writing, Volume 9: True Stories from Around the World, you’ll:


·         Tangle with snakes and alligators in Bangladesh
·         Chase tornadoes with Chinese celebrities
·         Dodge fireballs while half-naked in Ecuador  (THAT'S MY STORY :-)
·         Get stuck in the mud by the Ganges in India
·         Hunt frogs in a Louisiana bayou
·         Get cheerfully deported from South Africa
·         Be transformed by a Mexican revolution
·         Survive close encounters with rhinos in Namibia
·         Experience life under niqab in Egypt
·         Find love in a tree house in Laos


... and much, much more.
I really enjoy these anthologies published by Travelers' Tales.  It's such a great way to armchair travel... and it inspires you to go out and have adventures yourself! 
You can pre-order the book on Amazon now, but it will be available at other locations within the next month.
In case you're curious, I do have other travel essays you could check out-- here's a sampling:"Naked in Oaxaca" in Lonely Planet's By the Seat of my Pants"Secrets of the Maya" in Lonely Planet's Tales from Nowhere and Best of Lonely Planet"Bees Born of Tears" in Mexico: a love story"Flying with the Honguitos" in Best Women's Travel Writing 2006"Bees Born of Tears" in Best Travel Writing 2006
Happy reading,Laura

Final Portugal Post: Exploring More Lisbon...

 

Hey guys,

First, thank you so much for your kind comments after my last post (about pain.) It was a bit scary to reveal a not-pretty part of my life, but you all responded with compassion and insightful comments, and that meant a lot to me.

I had a bad few days, but am feeling great now, enjoying summertime with Ian and Lil Dude, writing more of a new book, cooking with herbs and veggies from our garden, going to little fairs and markets and fountains around town...

So, I'm gonna wrap up my series of Portugal posts here, since you're probably getting sick of them! (I do have to admit that this is serving as my personal family photo album/travelogue, too, as you may have guessed...)

Here was the view from the little balcony of our room at Travellers' House -- awesome hostel. Check out the beautiful mosaics of smooth cobbles that form the streets.

 

Wouldn't it be fun if these wee balconies were standard in homes here in the U.S.?

 

We book-ended our trip with a few days in Lisbon, and at the tail end, we had a chance to explore more of the neighborhoods. View from the medieval, labyrinthine Alfama neighborhood, perched way up high:

 

I loved the tiles on the buildings... I have dozens of pics like this one, all different colors and patterns:

 

I always seek out flea markets and antique shops... here's one in the Alfama district, chock full of shiny, intriguing treasures... 





Sigh... sunsets...


In some neighborhoods, at nights, the cozy, narrow streets were full of tables and chairs and cushions and people and music and food... so cool.



We rented out bikes and rode along this great bike path to a famous ancient monastery in Belem. 


Along the bike path (which ran along the river most of the time), there was art (see the boat hook-up thingie below) and poetry painted on the pavement.

 

These are the famous custard pastries of Lisbon, called pastel de nata... this cafe in Belem was supposedly the best place to eat them.  The place was super-touristy, but the pastries were worth it-- warm for the oven, the crust flaky and buttery and delicious.


 Fado music is Portugal's famous tradition of singing wistful songs accompanied by acoustic guitar.  We listened to it at a hole-in-the-wall bar, over sangria and candle light. A nice romantic end to our 10-year anniversary trip. :-)


Thanks for coming by... hope you're enjoying summertime, too! Oh, and if you're in the Ft Collins area, please come to the Old Town Book Fair, which is happening all day on Saturday, June 29, 2013.  I'll be chatting and signing at the Old Firehouse Books booth/tent in Old Town Square from 1-2:00.  Come say hi!

xo,
Laura

Chronic pain sucks.

Just for the record, I'll tell you that I've had to deal with chronic pain issues for much of my life. I'm telling you this because I focus on happy things on my blog and in interviews-- happy travels and happy book news and happy family and friend things.

But you know, sometimes when I read other people's blogs and  their lives appear constantly happy, it annoys me.  So I thought I'd come right out and tell you that a significant portion of the time, I am in pain.

I don't write about it because while I'm in pain, I feel too crappy to write.  And after the pain is gone, I just want to forget about it and focus on happy things.  I also don't write about it in blog posts because frankly, I wouldn't want to read a blog with updates about someone's chronic pain. Maybe once or twice, but I wouldn't keep going back to a blog that brought me down with posts like:

I woke up at various points in the night in pain.  In the morning the pain was still there.  I tried exercising. Made it worse. I tried writing more of my book.  Couldn't.  I took pain meds that gave me a cascade of side effects and required more meds. Finally I gave up and laid on the couch in a pool of snot and tears and watched LOST episodes all day.
I also don't write about pain on my blog because of the responses I'd get.  I don't want anyone recommending their holistic doctor or dietary changes or herbs or whatever, because over the past couple decades, I've basically tried it all-- Western and Eastern medicine and everything in between, with varying degrees of success and failure.  I've found some things that have more-or-less worked, and I've been managing the pain with that.

I don't write about the pain because I really am not looking for sympathy.  I've pretty much accepted the aspects of the situation that I can't change, and changed the ones I can, so here I am, managing.  I think we all have horrible things to deal with in our lives, and the key, I think, is to not let them become an all-consuming part of our identity.

Mostly, my life is good and I'm grateful for that, and overall, I feel very, very fortunate.  I've been able to write a bunch of books, have a bunch of travel adventures, have a bunch of smart and fun and good-hearted friends, have a happy family.... and those are the things I want to focus on in my blog and in my life.

BUT... I also don't want to misrepresent my life-- I don't want you to assume that everything is easy and smiley and sunny all the time.  I want you to know that on any given day at any given moment, I might be taking a happy walk in the woods, I might be happily writing another chapter, I might be traveling somewhere exciting, I might be biking around our friendly neighborhood with my family, I might be partying with writer and reader friends....

OR

I might be in a doctor's waiting room, I might be squinting and grimacing at my computer trying to write despite pain, I might be making phone calls to the insurance company, I might be feeling sorry for myself in a pool of snot and tears and LOST episodes.

I feel like I should put a positive spin on this... how pain can be a lesson, blah blah blah... what doesn't kill you makes you stronger... blah blah blah... but really, it just sucks. There is no uplifting conclusion here.  It's about accepting that life comes with crap as well as beauty.

My good friend Laura Pritchett (who serves as my model for managing chronic pain with grace) wrote an insightful article about this in the spring issue of Fort Collins magazine. (You can read it here.)

My apologies if this post isn't very well-written, but honestly, I feel like crap now.  I'm going to fix myself a cup of tea and try to write another chapter, and if that doesn't work, the couch and LOST reruns await.

xo
Laura

Lisbon Trip-- Porto and Aveiro!

And here is the next batch of Portugal pics!  Hope you're not sick of them yet (because there's still another batch coming after this...;-)  So, these photos are from Porto and Aveiro, from the middle of our ten-day anniversary trip...


Cafes along the river...


Our beautiful hotel room was right on the water! Guest House Douro was a bit of a splurge for us, but totally worth it.  We were greeted with roses and champagne and this amazing view:


Our hosts, Carmen and Joao, were stylish and vibrant and warm- they made us feel so welcome!  They had a smile-inducing array of pet names for us: kittens and loves and kids and babies and sweeties. (I told Ian I wanted to start calling everyone babies and kittens, but he didn't think I could quite pull it off the way Carmen and Joao do.)  Beret-sporting Joao made breakfasts, which were veritable towers of sculpted exotic fruit... (I need to raid Ian's camera for pics, since for some reason I didn't get any on my own camera... too busy eating mango and guayabana.)


We spent our two days in Porto wandering the various cobble-stoned neighborhoods, going from one amazing scenic outlook to another.


This town definitely had a port feel-- the smells of water and tastes of fresh fish and smattering of colorful boats.  Like Lisbon, there were many beautifully tiled buildings with intricate wrought iron balconies holding flapping laundry...


We found a craft/antique market in the street, and got some cool little gifts.


We rented out bikes one afternoon and biked along the Douro River to the Atlantic. This was something I don't remember doing when I backpacked around Europe a couple decades ago-- renting bikes-- must be a more recent phenomena.  We made bike outings several times on this trip, and loved them all.



I appreciated how these people's laundry was color-coordinated with their tiles...

The colors of Porto are this wonderful mix of rich and gritty...


Ah, sunsets...

Porto is supposed to be one of the romantic cities in Europe, and I have to say, I agree... there's something about the river and boats and bridges...


Maybe it has to do with the light... look how golden! (Nothing here is photo-shopped-- I'm too lazy or perhaps busy for that.)


We stopped for a night and day at Aveiro, a small town between  Lisbon and Porto, on the coast.  It's called "Little Venice."


The bikes here were free to use (although they were fairly beat-up.) We biked along  the canals, past these gondola-like boats.

 

Half the time on this trip, we stayed in private rooms in economical hostels, like this one-- Aveiro Rossio Hostel.  These hostels were centuries-old and gorgeous-- twelve-foot high ceilings with elegant moulding and other cool architectural details. They were usually decorated in a mix of antiques and IKEA-- a kind of funky vintage-modern scheme-- waaaay different from the crumbling and utilitarian hostels I stayed in a couple decades ago while backpacking in Europe.   (We have those same curtains from IKEA at home, hehehe.)


Here's the lobby of the hostel.  In the morning, I had a nice long conversation in French with a French guy-- it's so fun to meet people from other countries, speak in other languages-- another bonus of hostel-hopping.


Here's the beautiful old hostel where we stayed in Lisbon-- Travellers' House-- super-high ceilings, lovely moulding touches, private balcony, antique desk, IKEA beds. This place was kind of a Scandanavian-minimalist aesthetic with the white walls and linens. And the staff and other guests there were very cool and interesting to talk with, too. They made me nutella crepes for breakfast, further winning my heart...


Okay, I will only subject you to one more batch of these pictures, I promise!  Coming up next... Lisbon again-- the medieval, labyrinthine Alfama district; another bike ride along another river; romantic fado music in a hole-in-the-wall bar...

Off for a cup of tea now!

xo,
Laura

Half Moon Bay and Japanese Tea Gardens!

Hey guys!

 As I was walking along the bluffs of Half Moon Bay last week, I felt overwhelmed with gratitude that *this magnificence* is part of my job!  Ten years ago, as I was revising the not-yet-published manuscript of my first book, I never dreamed that my books would take me to places like this...



This was my second author visit to Half Moon Bay-- the first was a few years ago, during which time I fell in love with the place. I'd already been enchanted by the name, because, as you know if you've read my first two books, I really like moon-related things.



Armando Ramirez (above) invited me back this year and I was thrilled!  He's an amazing bilingual librarian who is deeply devoted to his job-- more like his calling, I'd say.  He knows everyone in town, as well as in neighboring towns, and calls them all m'hija or m'hijo. Makes me smile.



On the drive to visit El Granada elementary school (which overlooks the ocean! these kids are so lucky!), he told me all about his personal experiences with los gitanos (aka Rom, gypsies, hungaros) and el cine ambulante (traveling cinema) in rural Mexico-- a fascinating topic that I've been in the midst of researching lately. I was scribbling lots of notes...


His cool librarian colleague, Karen (above) is so much fun to hang out with, too-- here we are with the El Granada school mascot (a dolphin). The HMB community is so lucky to have these awesome, creative, committed librarians.




And here (below) is another one of my favorite HMB people-- teacher extraordinaire, Laurie McMahon, who reads my books aloud to her students every year.  I adore her students, who send me letters with insightful questions and comments about my books (and a bit of psychoanalysis of me--- they're really perceptive readers and notice all kinds of recurring images and themes...). We had an interesting, fun discussion in English and Spanish in the classroom. I also got to visit Pescadero Middle School, in a small, beautiful town down the coast a bit.


On Friday night, I did a presentation for the community, which was so interesting for me because I could chat more with the students and their families-- some of whom are from Oaxaca, where several of my books are set. So cool!

In my free moments, I walked along the succulent-covered cliffs over the beach and savored every last detail of the ocean... the sounds, the smells, the light on waves, the feel of the wind... it all makes my soul happily shiver and sigh.

I walked to the farmers' market on Saturday morning, and bought this entire fresh cherry pie for myself.  It was a smallish pie, and it was fun to just dig into it with a fork and sit on the curb in the sunshine and listen to the band play mellow, funky music.


I spent that afternoon with my good friend, Andrea, who I've known since middle school.  We walked and talked on the beach for hours among the gulls-- such a nice day!
I had a wee bit of time before my plane left on Sunday, so I spent an hour in the Japanese Tea Gardens in San Francisco.  I love gardens and tea, so it was no surprise that I loved this place.


The morning light was pretty and peaceful...




It's funny how safety-hyper (or lawsuit-scared) the U.S. is. A couple weeks earlier, in Portugal, Ian and I scampered up and down towers and castles and ramparts and tunnels and all manner of potentially dangerous-yet-cool things.  And I don't remember any signs telling us to be careful... after all, it was pretty much common sense, you know?  But back here, there are signs all over the place. Sigh.


Lovely, vibrant red temples here and there...


Pink azaleas remind me of growing up in Baltimore.  We don't seem to have azaleas here in Colorado.-- maybe they need more moisture or are less tolerant to cold? I miss them.


Such a peaceful way to begin a day of plane travel.


Thanks for swinging by!

xo,
Laura