Storytime at Eleanor’s Bookshop and My New Favorite Cookbook

A couple weekends ago, Joss and I headed to Eleanor’s Bookshop for their very first storytime! Their initial plan was to do a weekly storytime Saturdays at 11:30 a.m., but due to high demand, they’ve added additional events! You do need to sign up in advance, as space is limited to allow for social distancing. Sign up here.

Joss felt right at home.

Anyway, we had a lovely time, as we always do at Eleanor’s. Yes, it’s a store focused on children’s and YA literature. But as someone who loves YA literature, I always find as many tempting books as Joss does, if not more. Owner Kelsey McAfee read three books, including the classic “Make Way for Ducklings” and a sweet book called “All Are Welcome.”

Shameless plug: Follow @tulsakids on Instagram!

There’s a wonderful rug cushioning the cement floor. After storytime, they handed out some coloring pages created by Sully String, so we enjoyed some creative time.

In other fun news, Eleanor’s is starting a March Madness Picture Book Bracket on March 19 for a chance to win an Eleanor’s gift card! You need to turn in a photo of your completed bracket by 6 p.m. on March 19. Find additional details here.

What’s Cooking at 10 Garden Street

Of course, as soon as we walked into Eleanor’s Bookshop, several books caught my eye. Most notably, “What’s Cooking at 10 Garden Street?: Recipes for Kids from Around the World,” written and illustrated by Felicita Sala.

So pretty!

I’ve been feeling pretty “blah” in terms of meal planning for, oh, about a year or so. At least. So a whole book of meal ideas (and some desserts!) that are easy enough to fit into a paragraph sounded PERFECT.

Since the recipes come from around the world, this book has the added benefit of introducing kids to new cuisines and sparking conversations about other cultures. In all honesty, I haven’t done this with Joss yet. But you could! I’m mostly grateful for the simplicity of the recipes and the fact that there’s a wonderful variety. Which is just what you need when you’re feeling bored with your usual recipe sources! And the illustrations are just so charming that it’s a joy to look at while you’re cooking!

With one exception (strawberry crumble), all the recipes are superb. And it’s very possible that the one that didn’t turn out well had something to do with my own error. I don’t know. And by “didn’t turn out well,” I mean only that the top of the crumble was a little floury, and Daniel and I basically ate it all anyway. So…wasn’t a total failure by any means! Even the Black Bean Soup, which I wasn’t soup-er excited about (ha!), was incredible. It involves cooking things in bacon fat, so it was way more flavorful than I expected! Definitely had seconds of that one!

Anyway, the bottom line is, this is a great book, highly recommend. And less than $15, which is pretty reasonable I think. Since I plan to get years of use out of this!

Feel free to share your own favorite meal-planning resources in the comments! Always looking for more!