I read A Series of Unfortunate Events where three children become orphans and are placed in the car of an uncle, Count Olaf. Olaf does not care about the children and only looks after the children to steal their fortune. He writes a list of chores every morning and expects them to be done by the time he gets home. In chapter three Olaf leaves them a note that read, “My theater troupe will be coming for dinner before tonight’s performance.Have dinner ready for all ten of them by the time they arrive at seven o’clock. Buy the food, prepare it, set the table, serve dinner, clean up afterwards, and stay out of our way.” So the children find a recipe for puttanesca, an Italian pasta sauce. For my make I made the puttanesca sauce with a recipe from Adventure Kitchen. The recipe calls for anchovies but I don’t like anchovies so I left them out. My roommates tried it and said it needs less onions, more sauce, and some sort of meat. If I would make this again I would add less onion and have some meat options such as meatballs, ground beef or chicken on the side.

Ingredients

6 Cloves or garlic, unpeeled

2 1/2 Tablespoons of olive oil

1 Medium onion, diced

3/4 cup pitted kalamata olives

2 Tablespoons of capers

1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes

56 oz of diced canned tomatoes

1/4 cp of minced parsley

1/3 cup of minced basil

1/2 cup or more of shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the rack in the middle position.

2. Place a large square of heavy-duty aluminum foil (or standard foil doubled in thickness) on your work surface and place the unpeeled garlic cloves in the middle of the square. Carefully drizzle 1/2 Tablespoon of the olive oil over the garlic cloves and enclose them in the foil. Put the foil package directly on the oven rack, seam side up, to roast for 30 minutes, until the cloves are lightly golden and very soft.

3. While the garlic is roasting, warm the remaining 2 Tablespoons of oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-low heat.  Add the onions and anchovies and saute for 15-20 minutes, until quite soft.

4. While the onions and anchovies are simmering, cut the olives into small pieces.

5. When the garlic is finished, carefully remove the foil packet from the oven. When it has cooled enough for you to handle it, remove the skins from the garlic cloves and drop the soft, skinless cloves onto a plate.  Use a fork to mash them into a soft puree, and add them to the onion and anchovy mixture.

6. Add the olives, capers and red pepper to the pot, briefly mixing everything together.

7. Add the diced tomatoes to the pot and mix to combine. Set the lid askew and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. While the sauce simmers, cook a pound of pasta noodles in generously salted water. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water before you drain the pasta, in case you need it in the last step.

8. Taste the sauce and add a bit of salt or pepper if needed.  If you used unsalted tomatoes you may need to add a bit of salt, but if the tomatoes were salted you may not need a thing.

9. When you are confident the seasonings are right, stir in the parsley and most of the basil (reserve a bit to sprinkle on as a garnish at the end if you like).  Allow to simmer about 5 minutes more, then serve.

10. To serve, toss the noodles and sauce together in a large bowl, adding a splash or two of the pasta water if it seems a little dry. Sprinkle the remaining basil and the cheese over the top.

Site used: https://www.adventurekitchen.com/recipes/2017/2/1/pastaputtanesca

I chose Series of Unfortunate Events which I had not read before. In our group discussions I realized that everyone in my group had read Series of Unfortunate Events in elementary school. They were able to reflect on what they felt reading it as a child versus what they felt reading it as an adult which I though was interesting. Most f the people who had read the Series as a child and then again as an adult said it felt more cruel than they thought it was.  I found the series interesting although I have only read one of thirteen books. The book is about three children Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. These children come from a wealthy, loving, and caring family but their perfect lives get turned upside down beginning with their parents’ death. After their parents die the children are placed with Arthur Poe who is a banker in charge of finding a home for the orphans. Mr. Poe finds the nearest relative, Count Olaf. Count Olaf turns out to be a horrible mad who mistreats the Baudelaire children and tries to seal their inherited fortune.  Once Count Olaf is removed from the role of in loco parentis things seem to be looking better for the children but in this story things can only go from bad to worse. The children are not allowed to stay in the care of Justice Strauss who is a loving women and a perfect fit for the children which takes the bit of hope the children had left after enduring Count Olaf’s torment. Instead the children will be sent off with the next closest relative. The oldest, Violet, is a very intelligent and independent engineer. The middle child, Klaus is a book worm and has a large vocabulary and the youngest, Sunny, is only a baby. Despite this we can see that Count Olaf disregards the children as stuck-up, snotty, bratty kids. Even Mr. Poe who is has known the children for years through their parents,sees the children as less intelligent than they really are.  Rather than talking to the children as the mature children they are he talks to them as though they are younger than they are and much less intelligent. This book reminds us that everyone is experiencing different things such as death. These children have a very unsecured home life not only did they lose their parents but they also lost all of their belongings. They are then placed in the care of an awful man. I want to make my classroom a loving and safe environment because we never truly know what someone is going through.

I found it interesting how Miller pointed out that any waiting time can be reading time. I never really thought about carrying a book with me anywhere other than school or the airport. I think that one challenge I will face as a teacher is helping my students find time to read not just for assignments but for personal entertainment.  I want to be able to expose my students to every genre so that they can discover the genres that interest them. When I was reading the different reasons for finishing a book when Miller writes about binge reading , I know I have definitely told myself all of t hose things at least once. I want my students to feel that way, even if they should sleep so that they are well rested for class. I am excited to inspire my students to read although I am afraid that not all of them will. I am afraid to discourage someone when my intentions are to help them, just as some of my teachers did to me.