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Sorry I've missed What to Read Wednesday the last two weeks but I'm back again with a book I'm still listening to but love so far: Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan.

You may know him as the Hot Pocket comedian. I know him from his first Comedy Central special and the joke about mayonnaise. This was the late 90's and my family had it on in the background, but by the end we were all watching and laughing. Since then we have enjoyed Jim Gaffigan's stand-up and acting. So when his book, Dad is Fat, came out, I knew I wanted to read it. It's been on my To Read list for a long time.

And let me tell you, it is funny, and enjoyable. Dad is Fat is about Jim's observations of parenthood. He has five kids, so he's no stranger to parenthood. In stead of those parenting books you give to expecting parents, you should give them Dad is Fat. Dad is Fat is a great realistic way to see parenthood, but it won't scare you away from it. One of the things I love about the book is the how much you can tell Jim loves his family, his kids, but especially his wife Jeannie. I'm just a sucker for a loving family I guess.

His humor mixed with amusing anecdotes of parenthood, make this an easy and insightful read. I highly recommend. Listening to the book adds another dimension because Jim reads it himself. I always think that adds something special to the audiobook. If you're on the fence about trying Audible, maybe start with the 30 day free trial and use it for this book. You won't regret it!

And it makes me excited to read his other book Food: a Love Story.

AND even more excited to read Jeannie Gaffigan's book coming out in October, When Life Gives You Pears. So called because she recently had a pear sized tumor removed from her brain. She is Jim's writing partner and executive producer for his shows. So if you like his stuff, I'm sure you will like her book. I haven't read it yet, I just have that feeling. It's available for pre-order now.​

This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for your support!

Hey, Alicia here with another international recipe. Last year my family picked a country from our heritage every month and made one recipe a week from that country. It was really fun, educational, and delicious. This year we're not doing that same thing, but we still love experimenting with food from other cultures.

That's where bao, steamed Chinese dumplings, come in. My husband works at Pixar, and you may remember that short that played before Incredibles 2 called Bao. Bao (without giving anything away) is about a woman who makes bao and one of them comes to life and she basically treats this cute little dumpling as her son. The director of the short, Domee Shi, shared her mother's recipe for bao with her Pixar colleagues and an illustrated version with Time Magazine. 

My husband really wanted to make them because he loves Chinese food. So we did. It's a pretty simple recipe, though it can take a little time preparing the filling. The first time my husband minced everything by hand. The second time he decided to use the food processor and it was perfect. We also don't have ground pork so we used pork sausage. The dough is a very simple 3 ingredient yeast dough. The results were so wonderful. A favorite part was the fresh ginger used in the filling. Don't skip it as it really adds to the flavor. It's so good.

The hardest part of the recipe is folding the dough around the filling. I was not very good at it, so mine had a lot of extra dough at the top. If my bao had come to life, it would have been a completely different short, probably in the horror genre. But they still tasted delicious! My husband got the knack for it though and made some really cute bao. 

Another thing is you will need a way to steam the bao, as that's how they cook. we used the basket that came with our rice cooker.

I'm not sharing the recipe directly on our page because it is Domee Shi's but you can find the illustrated version on this page and a video of YouTuber, Emmy Made in Japan, following the recipe and making the dumplings. We found the video especially helpful.

​So go forth and enjoy bao. Let us know how you like it!

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Today for What to Read Wednesday I have an upper elementary book that all ages can enjoy: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo.

Kate DiCamillo is a favorite children's author who wrote other childhood favorites such as The Tales of Despereux and Because of Winn-Dixie, both award winning novels. She also writes the Mercy Watson series for younger readers. So when my friend let me borrow The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, I knew the book was going to be great, as Ms DiCamillo doesn't disappoint.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is about a china rabbit that lives with a girl name Abilene who loves him and dotes on him. Though Edward doesn't necessarily return the favor to the girl. Then one day he is lost and his miraculous journey starts, beginning at the bottom of the ocean, eventually finding his way to Tennessee, passing through many new and different owners. Through this physical journey he learns to love and lose and hope.

It's truly a special story. I listened to it with my kids and they liked it too. At some points I shed a little tear, but I never all out bawled. The story touched my heart and I'm sure you will love it too.

Have you read any of Kate DiCamillo's other books? Will you be giving The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane a try? Let us know in the comments below!