Four Moms Q and A

(updated to fix the book titles and some formatting errors)

Don't  miss what the other four moms have to say:

Life in a Shoe,

Smockity Frocks,

Raising Olives, .

Common Room,

This week is Q and A, where we answer questions you, our wonderful readers, put to us.

Q. Do you want all your children to live with you until they marry, even if they don't marry?

A. We don't have a set in stone plan for this, even though we are a stone age family who prefer our girls live at home until they marry, and we prefer our son move out and live on his own before he marries.


Q  If you could only have 15 picture books, which would they be?

A. That's a tough one.  That one is so tough it's almost mean.  My answer will probably be different on a different day, but off the top of my head:

Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
Flossy and the Fox by Patricia McKissick
Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown
The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
The Year at Maple Tree Farm by the Provensens, or maybe Oxcart man by somebody else
The Little Engine That Could, by Watty Piper and the Haumans, because nothing else will do.

On Market Street, because these remarkable pictures give children much to look at and think about.
The Story of Little Babaji because it has all the charm, wit, and humour of the original Little Black Sambo without the ugly, cringe-worthy illustrations of the original illustrations and without the baggage that would make your friends of color worry about you.
Miss Rumphius because it has a marvelous Captain Idea that cannot help but inspire the young reader and their parents.
THE REAL MOTHER GOOSE: or any good Mother Goose collection, because Mother Goose is the birthright of every English speaking child. It is the child's earliest experience, apart from the King James Bible, with poetry, rhyme, and meter.
Storytelling and Other Poems, Childcraft (Volume 2) or Any older volume 2 of Childcraft, preferably pre-1960 (yes, I cheated)
Six by Seuss: A Treasury of Dr. Seuss Classics, Six by Seuss, a large volume of six of his books (I just cheated again)
Catch Me & Kiss Me & Say It Again, by Clyde and Wendy Watson because it's pure joy and a modern day Mother Goose. Catch me and kiss me and say it again, set sail in a cockleshell boat. If no-one fell out, then who stayed in? Catch me and kiss me and say it again!

Cockyolly Bumkin merry go bet
Fell in the duckpond and got all wet
A nickle for a nappy and a penny for a pin
To wrap my little Cockyolly Bumkin in.

The illustrations are darling- not too sappy, but siblings who love each other. Some of them are nude little darlings, and some most conservative parents may take to the white-out, but don't let that prevent your family from sharing the rollicking, frolicking, joi de vivre in this collection of rhymes.

Oops- I think I undercounted.  I am really hardpressed to limit myself to 15, as you see, but perhaps Pelle's New Suit
(and so many others by Elsa Beskow)?
Or Sandra Boynton's Board Books,
Mo Willem's Pigeon Books
or Each Peach Pear Plum by the Ahlbergs,
or The Mitten by Jan Brett
or Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
This is torture.  I could go on.  I checked my LibraryThing listing and after numerous cullings and in spite of the fact that I have not had children who enjoyed picture books for over 7 years, I still have 300 of them.

Q. Have you/ how do you use bones for stock?

A. Yes. The easiest way is just to put the bones (with bits of meat on them), in a big pot of water, add a dash of salt and a splash of vinegar and simmer all day, then strain, cool, skim the fat (save for cooking) and use your broth.  Or you could do this.

Q When you use organ meats do you use certain recipes for them or do you substitute it for other meat in recipes.

A. I use specific recipes for liver.  I just cook tongue in the crockpot all day, then peel it, slice it, and serve with salt.  Heart I substitute for other meats, mostly grinding it and using it anywhere I'd use ground beef. I also had it recently simmered all day in BBQ sauce in the crockpot. I thought it was great.

 Q. Can your family tell the difference?

A. Yes, mostly.  The only way they can't tell is when I mix ground heart half and half with ground beef or turkey. 

Pip won't try the heart.  She's 21 now, so my previous practices with picky eaters don't work.