More exciting news of pie + picture book controversy + last-minute Christmas present DIY

First, two things about PIE, both via Cakespy:

1. Candy cane cream pie recipe at The Inky Kitchen. It looks beautiful and sounds delicious, but if I made it I'd probably take a shortcut and buy a premade oreo crust. I'd also probably use more cream cheese, and less heavy cream. But I guess it wouldn't be a cream pie anymore if I did that...

2. Lo and behold, a small pie shop chain called High 5 Pie exists, and is opening another location in Seattle. This is rather far away from my neck of the woods, but I remain optimistic about the spread of pie shops.

Second, have you heard about this book yet?

Image from The Gloucester Times

I heard about it at work this week. The basic plot includes a monkey and a donkey. The monkey has a book, and the donkey asks what it is. He wants to know if you can scroll up and down, access Wi-Fi or tweet with it. The monkey says, "No" each time, and at the end of the book the monkey says, "it's a book, jackass."  Take a look at the book trailer:

I think it's a cute and clever concept, but I can understand why some adults in Massachusetts are against allowing a literacy group to donate copies of It's a Book to first graders. Charity is a thornier issue than library access to the book--in the case of a library, it is a parent's right to bar their child from checking out It's a Book and/or make sure their child does not hear it during storytime. But not allowing a group of well-meaning people to donate it in schools? Hmm. That's a tougher one.

What do you think?

(Further info on It's a Book can be found here and here at NPR, where it is recommended and discussed in relation to the e-reader explosion, respectively.)

Third, I was having difficulties completing my mother's Christmas present until I saw this rice pillow project at Wise Craft. I wanted to surprise her with something small, because I asked her point-blank what she wanted for Christmas, and . . . well, she won't be too surprised, since that's what I got for her. (And I wasn't very secretive about it.)

Image from Wise Craft

My mom used to have a cherry-pit pillow that she heated in the microwave, and this is a similar thing. It also looks super easy and nicely cheap--since I have a bin of suitable fabric scraps, I only need to run to the grocery store to buy rice to make this.

I started wrapping Christmas presents tonight. I love making them look all pretty and seeing how cleverly I can disguise gifts with boxes, tissue paper, and wrapping paper. Enthusiasm doesn't make me good with wrapping paper, though. I still wrap presents as clumsily as I did when I was in elementary school. I like to think it makes my gifts look more endearing. (Endearing sounds better than sloppy.)

Here's a video from Jackson Pearce on how to wrap a gift correctly. I might pay closer attention to it next year.


Merry (Early) Christmas,