The Natchitoches Parish Library (NPL) has seen hundreds of children attend its Summer Reading Program (SRP) performances over the past month. Your local library has hosted magicians, puppets and storytellers, musicians, and even dinosaurs at both branches, on the NPL’s front lawn, and on the Downtown Riverbank Stage. And don’t worry if you have not had the chance to catch a library show with your kids; the NPL still has a couple of performances to look forward to! Plus, you can still register to read for rewards until the program ends on August 31. Different prizes (up to 6) are available for every two hours adults, teens, and children read.
The remaining performances will be by NSU’s comical improv group, Out On a Limb, and Animalogy, a wildlife program with real furry, feathery, scaly, and slimy friends.
The NPL also offers Family Story Time every Tuesday at 10:30 AM. And on Fridays through the end of July kids can catch Sprout!, featuring a different developmental activity each week, along with free veggies from the City of Natchitoches Mobile Market and a sack lunch provided by the Natchitoches Lions Club.
Free classes and events for teens and adults are also offered each week. For a full schedule, you may visit natlib.org or follow the NPL on social media.
New and On Order
Would you like to share your writing with others? Have a poem, story, review, or an excerpt that you have selected from your writings?
Please contact Alan Niette, NPL Community Outreach Coordinator, at alan@natlib.org. We will gladly share your tales with our readers!
"What's Up" This Month?
Joey Matheson
Just recently, my wife and I took a missionary trip to the Central American country of Honduras. The main reason was to spread the Gospel of Christ to those in need, but along with that was the practical need for clothing, food, and veterinarian work for animals that provide food and transportation.
After the last two hurricanes that swept through the area in 2020, the area is still devastated for most people. Complete families were lost, swept out to sea, never to be seen again. The people in the mountains were plagued by mudslides that covered whole villages. As we were organizing our efforts to go to the country, COVID-19 was spreading and got to the point that international travel was halted. Everything was put on hold for so long and the people needed help during that time, yet all we could do was wait.
Finally, God opened the door for us to travel and at the same time we found out that supplies that had been held up in the ports for several months were finally moving and were waiting for us at the compound when we arrived. We also had a medical team traveling with us to treat the sick and injured. It was a continuous kind of work, but ever so gratifying.
“You will always have the poor with you…” Matthew 26:11
-Joey
Digital Hoopla Picks From the Library
Audiobook: Murder At The Mayfair Hotel [Part 1 of the Cleopatra Fox Mystery series] (2020).
By C. J. Archer, read by Marian Hussey.
It was the most fashionable place to stay in London, until murder made a reservation. Solve the puzzle in this new cozy historical mystery from USA Today bestselling author of the Glass and Steele series.
December 1899. After the death of her beloved grandmother, Cleopatra Fox moves into the luxury hotel owned by her estranged uncle in the hopes of putting hardship and loneliness behind her. But the poisoning of a guest throws her new life, and the hotel, into chaos.
Cleo quickly realizes no one can be trusted, not Scotland Yard and especially not the hotel's charming assistant manager. With the New Year's Eve ball approaching fast and the hotel's reputation hanging by a thread, Cleo must find the killer before the ball, and the hotel itself, are ruined. But catching a murderer proves just as difficult as navigating the hotel's hierarchy and the peculiarities of her family.
Can Cleo find the killer before the new century begins? Or will someone get away with murder?
Movie: The 39 Steps (2008, NR).
A drama based on John Buchan's classic novel, set in the lead-up to the First World War. When an undercover British spy is killed in his flat, a man finds himself accused of murder and caught up in a deadly conspiracy, which threatens not only his life, but the safety of the nation. Pursued by spies and the police, he reluctantly joins forces with a feisty suffragette as he attempts to uncover the truth and save Great Britain from invasion.
eBook: Nowhere Girl (2021).
By Cheryl Diamond.
The incredible true story of a family built on lies. What if the people you love most are not who you thought they were? What if you don't know who you are, either? Cheryl Diamond's memoir begins when she is four and her family is in Kashmir, India, hurtling down the Himalayas in their battered station wagon headed for the Golden Temple, the holiest site in the Sikh religion. The family are Sikhs. Today. In a few years they will be Jewish. Cheryl's name is Harbhajan. Today. But in a few years she will be Crystal.
By the time she turns nine, Cheryl has had at least six assumed identities. She has lived on five continents, fleeing the specter of Interpol and law enforcement. Her father, a master financial criminal, or so she believes, uproots the family at the slightest sign of suspicion.
As she grows older, though, things get darker. Her identity is burned again and again, leaving her with no past, no proof even that she exists, and her family, the only people she has in the world, begins to unravel. An impossible-to-believe true story of self-discovery and triumph.
From the Stacks: Featured Cookbook
641 OLI 2020—Ultimate Veg, by Jamie Oliver.
From simple suppers and family favorites, to weekend dishes for sharing with friends, this book is packed full of phenomenal food, pure and simple.
Whether it's embracing a meat-free day or two each week, living a vegetarian lifestyle, or just wanting to try some brilliant new flavor combinations, this book ticks all the boxes.
Super-tasty, brilliantly simple, but inventive veg dishes include:
AMAZING VEGGIE CHILI, comforting black rice, zingy crunchy salsa and chili-rippled yogurt
GREENS MAC 'N' CHEESE with leek, broccoli & spinach and a toasted almond topping
VEGGIE PAD THAI, crispy fried eggs, special tamarind & tofu sauce and peanut sprinkle
SUPER SPINACH PANCAKES with avocado, tomato and cottage cheese
SUMMER TAGLIATELLE, basil & almond pesto, broken potatoes and delicate green veg
With chapters on Soups & Sandwiches, Brunch, Pies & Bakes, Curries & Stews, Salads, Burgers & Fritters, Pasta, Rice & Noodles, and Traybakes there's something tasty for every occasion.
Sharing simple tips and tricks that will excite the taste buds, this book will give you the confidence to up your vegetable intake and widen your recipe repertoire, safe in the knowledge that it'll taste utterly delicious. It will also leave you feeling full, satisfied and happy, and not missing meat from your plate.
"It's all about celebrating really good, tasty food that just happens to be meat-free." - Jamie Oliver
Gnarly Black Bean Tacos (pg. 262)
Servings: 4 | Prep Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
1 15oz can of black beans
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp red wine vinegar
2 small corn tortillas
2 Tbsp cottage cheese
Chipotles Tabasco sauce
2 scallions
Instructions:
Drain the beans, then mash in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat with cumin, vinegar, and a pinch of salt and black pepper.
Fry for a few minutes to get a bit of color, tossing regularly.
Separate into two small piles and squash a tortilla on top of each (don’t worry if they don’t quite fit into the pan—they can overlap a little and still work beautifully!).
Push down to flatten and stick the bean mixture to the tortilla, then squash and cook until hot through.
Carefully turn out onto a board, top with bombs of cottage cheese and a few shakes of Tabasco, to taste, then finely slice and sprinkle over the scallions, and clank up into quarters.
Serve with an ice-cold beer, and relax.
NOTE: Feel free to use different types of beans, and swap out cottage cheese for Cheddar, if you prefer—it’s all good!
Nutrition:
129kcal
Fat 2.4g
Sat Fat 0.6g
Protein 7.3g
Carbs 16.6g
Sugars 1.7g
Salt 0.8g
Fiber 6/7g
Do you have a recipe you would like to share with our readers? Email alan@natlib.org your: name, phone number, recipe title, ingredients, and instructions and it may be featured in a future issue! Be sure to include all requested information. You may include pictures.
