Tapas and Sangria: Our Recipe for Maintaining Friendships

About once a month my husband and I meet up with a couple of our friends at a tapas restaurant called Sangria* in Royal Oak, Michigan. This tradition happened by chance when we were visiting with a friend who we hadn't seen in a while and were planning on going to another restaurant that turned out to be closed. We ended up at Sangria and it's now my favorite local restaurant. Not only that, but prior to this first visit to Sangria, this is a friend who we barely saw once a year due to our busy schedules, but now that we have a special restaurant, we're making time to get together a few times a year to catch up and make sure we don't drift apart again.

Prior to my first visit to Sangria, I had never been to a tapas restaurant before, but now it's probably my favorite way of eating. I have never been fond of an over-sized meal, not just because the portion size does not accommodate my petite stomach, but also the fact that my mouth gets bored of the same flavor over and over again. Tapas is such a fun way to add variety into your meal. The nature of tapas is to sample a variety of small dishes rather than feasting on one large entree. Plus you have the added benefit of passing dishes around the table and sharing the experience with your friends rather than the solitary endeavor of eating just one, large-plated meal.

Now, if it were just the food, this would still be my favorite way to eat. But top that with a pitcher of the most delicious sangria you'll ever drink and you have a recipe for the perfect convivial evening with friends.

The last time we went to sangria, was a couple weeks ago on a Thursday night when we were pleasantly surprised to discover they have flamenco dancing. Just as we were getting ready to leave, the flamenco dancer pulled us up onto stage to teach us some of her moves.

Despite being hesitant to go up at first, once it was over and we went back to our table, we couldn't stop talking about how much fun it was.

So if you've never been to a tapas bar/restaurant and you have one nearby, all I can say is what are you waiting for? (Just be careful, when someone asks you what you did last night and you tell them you went to a tapas bar, many people's eyes will bulge in disbelief and say, "You went to a topless bar??!!" That's happened to me more than a couple times).


*Note: sadly, this restaurant has since closed. 

Attention Parents: Sheltering Your Kids Actually Harms Them in the Long Run

I don't have kids, but since I have to deal with parents all the time, I've been following the Free Range Kids blog quite regularly. There's so much on the blog about that discusses many of the irrational decisions adults make in an attempt to "protect" children (e.g. how 'bout this post that mentions a school that banned THE DICTIONARY because it contains the definition for oral sex.)

But this was a great, uplifting post that puts into perspective why we shouldn't be sheltering our children.

Poetry Friday

Thought this poem was appropriate for my blog:

Travel

The railroad track is miles away,
And the day is loud with voices speaking,
Yet there isn’t a train goes by all day
But I hear its whistle shrieking.

All night there isn’t a train goes by,
Though the night is still for sleep and dreaming,
But I see its cinders red on the sky,
And hear its engine steaming.

My heart is warm with the friends I make,
And better friends I’ll not be knowing;
Yet there isn’t a train I wouldn’t take,
No matter where it’s going.

– Edna St. Vincent Millay

Hunger Games Book 3 Announced

If you're a book blogger and you haven't heard this yet then you've been living under a rock because the book world is abuzz with the announcement of the title/cover of book 3 of The Hunger Games trilogy.

I love the title, the cover, and the implied hope and symbolism the colors suggest compared to the previous two books that gave more of a sense of urgency and doom. I hope this means the series ends on a hopeful note.

I can't wait for August!!!!

Young Writers, Follow Maureen Johnson's Advice: Dare to Suck

One thing that beginning writers often fail to understand is that good writing doesn't just happen. It takes practice. It takes loads of rewriting. I preach this over and over again in my classroom, but sometimes I think that they don't take me seriously because I'm their teacher and what do I know?

Maybe if they heard it from an ACTUAL writer they'd be less hesitant to believe that I'm just making them do more work that they don't want to do:

I like giveaways

The gorgeous Stephanie Perkins has a cool giveaway over at her blog. Tell her your favorite romantic scene from a book or movie and you could win a trio of romantic books. Hurry though. It ends today!

Poetry... Monday?

Normally I do poetry on Friday, but this deserves a posting of its own.

This morning during 3rd hour I had two seventh grade girls knock on my door while my sixth graders were writing in their journals. When I opened the door, one of the girls said to me, "Mrs. S do you remember that poem you wrote last year about your sewing closet?"

My first reaction was, "Huh? What are you talking about?" I honestly had no recollection of what this girl was referring to. I can't even sew a button on a pair of pants. Why would I have a closet dedicated to a hobby in which I have no competence? And why did they think I wrote a poem about this nonexistent sewing closet?

"Well we were reading this poem in Mr. A's class when Jake said it reminded him of the poem you wrote last year about your closet. Mr. A wanted us to come ask you if you still had it because he wanted to read it."

It was then that I finally grasped that they were referring to a poem I wrote about my scrapbooking closet.

The poem was not that good, but I was touched that a group of seventh graders (who are a very challenging group to say the least) remembered something I wrote and made a connection to it based on a poem they were discussing in class one year later. And I'm even further touched that it resonated with them.


This is the poem they were referring to:

Memory Keeper

Inside my scrapbooking closet
a piece of paper waits to be cut
pictures wait to be arranged
an album waits to be opened
memories wait to be recorded.

Family
Friends
Travels

Life’s scrapbook

The colorful layouts
will never do justice to the
tastes
sights
smells
feelings
of the places we visited.

I can try
but my albums will never
capture
the cold sweetness of the water
cascading down Roman fountains
the overwhelming sense of smallness one feels
while gazing at ocean cliffs in Santorini
the air leaden with history
in the now youthful vibrancy of a united Berlin
the friendliness of a Polish college student
who walks you and your friends
to the Warsaw train station
just to make sure you won’t get lost
and so he can practice speaking English
to a group of four American travelers
grateful for his generosity.

I wish my albums could
capture all of these memories
but when I open my closet door
and cart out all of my supplies
I relive each experience
all over again.

My albums may not
imprison these memories
inside their dazzling pages
but the very act of opening
this closet door
reminds me
that these memories
exist
and are not to be confined
to a page
but rather
kept warm and safe
inside my heart.

- Beth Shaum