The Help Book and Movie Review

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

My thoughts: The Help is an incredible book definitively one of my favorite books in my top ten book list! There were a couple times when I laughed out loud while reading this story! It broke my heart how cruel some white people in the South treated the African American people in the early 1960s!  If you are a fan of the classic novel To Kill of a Mockingbird then you would enjoy The Help!  It is a witty, humorous, and well written book.  I loved all the characters in the book especially Skeeter's courage to write a book about African American experiences working as maids for white families in the South, Aibileen's precious relationship with a white child Mae Mobley, and Minny's fearless spunky personality! You would never regret reading this book!

As for The Help movie, I finally bought the DVD in December. Surprisingly, the movie measured up to the book in every way!  I thoroughly enjoyed watching the film and even my hubby liked it. If I watched it in a movie theater, I would have stood up and applauded once it started rolling the credits!  It was one of the best movies I have seen in a very long time!  I love the message from it, which we all can appreciate.

Chicken Wonton Salad

Chicken Wonton Salad 

Salad

1 head of Romaine lettuce, chopped

1/2 package of Wontons

1 head of iceberg, chopped

Grilled boneless chicken breasts, cubed

Green onion, chopped

celery, chopped

2 cans of mandarin oranges
Dressing

1/4 c. Rice Vinegar
1/4 c. Sesame Oil
1/2 Canola Oil
1/2 c. sugar
2 T. soy sauce
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. ginger
Mason Jar with lid
Directions
Make the dressing first. Add the dressing ingredients in a mason jar and shake well.  Put the dressing in the refrigerator to chill while preparing the rest of the salad.  Cut the wontons into thin strips.  In a large pot, add some cooking oil and heat it on medium. Make sure the oil is hot and ready to go.  You could test it by dropping in one wonton to see how it cooks.  I recommend the wontons a light golden brown color not fried crispy dark brown or black!  Allow the wontons to drain and cool off on a paper towel.  Next, grill the chicken on medium heat with some olive oil and cube it into bit size pieces (you may season the chicken how you like it I did salt and pepper).  Chop the lettuce then add chopped green onion and celery, set aside. In two separate small frying pans, toast the silvered almonds and sesame seeds with a little butter.  When they are brown remove from heat and add them the salad.   Next, add the dressing and mix well. Lastly, fold the  mandarin oranges gently in the salad!  Enjoy the GOODNESS!!!

December 2011 Highlights

December was a super busy month for us, which is typical during this time of the year with Christmas shopping, holiday traffic, choir concerts, several parties, visiting Santa Claus, etc.  Among all the holiday craziness, we found out on December 14 that John has type two diabetes and the following day we had to move out of our rental home because our landlord sold his home (a 15 day notice).  So we were extremely busy packing and looking for a new place during the holiday break.  To be honest, I lost the holiday spirit due to the stress. Since I boxed up all my Christmas stuff, we spent Christmas in southern Utah with my husband's parents.  We enjoyed the peace and quiet bliss at Granny's house (a simple and small country town)!  Granny spoiled us with incredible tasty food!  On Christmas Eve, we drove a couple hours to see Aunt Rhea.  We had a lovely time visiting with her, Vickie, and Carmen.  Granny read a wonderful Christmas story to my girls that night and we enjoyed the glow of candle light dinners.  We went to church for one hour the next day and opened presents after church. We were so happy we spent some time with Granny and Grandpa Free!  A week later, we moved on New Years Eve with help from our awesome family, neighbors, and ward members!  Luckily, the weather was great (no snow) on moving day.  Later that day, one of our old ward members dropped off some pizza, bread sticks, and soda while we unpacked at our new place then we went to a friend's house for a New Years Eve party (we were invited to three parties that night).  We will miss our Grovecreek ward!  We found a wonderful place on the west side of town. It is a lot bigger than our last home with tons of storage space, yard, storage shed, tool shed, greenhouse, potato cellar, etc. Pictures will come later once we are all set up... I have a lot of empty spaces.  Hopefully we can purchase our own home in the future.  In the meantime, we are blessed we found a great place during this cold and chaotic time of the year.  We hope to get to know our neighbors and make new friends in our new ward in the next couple weeks. 

DECEMBER HIGHLIGHTS

Junior High Choir Concert

Big Sister with her friend at their choir concert

A Fabulous Birthday Haircut (thanks Jenny)! 

A Gorgeous Hair Style from David Douglas Salon

  Checking out the Christmas lights at the River Bottoms Mall 

Never Too Old for Santa Claus 

A Peaceful Christmas in Southern Utah and My girls with Aunt Rhea!

Wearing Red on Christmas Day!

 Making Memories with Granny and Grandpa Free

 Playing Barbies in the Snow! Priceless!