Saying good-bye is the most difficult part of loving our canine friends. We're so sad to report that Rick and Lauren Johnson's beloved Maggie died of a stroke last Friday.
The Wachowskis, American film directors, writers and producers, most famous for creating The Matrix trilogy, are graciously allowing the use of their private screening room for a fundraising (and fun-raising!) event to benefit SitStayRead on Saturday, May 21, 2011.
Join us at the Wachowski's ultra-glamorous Chicago studio, Kinowerks, complete with all the Hollywood touches including the Wachowski's Oscars and MTV Movie Awards, memorabilia from V for Vendetta, The Matrix and more!
Event Details
Never open to the public, this event at Kinowerks is exclusively for SitStayRead friends and volunteers - you won't want to miss it. Hurry! There are only 5 loveseats (each seats two people) and 8 single seats left. What are you waiting for? Call 773.545.6629 to order your tickets to this exclusive event today.
In case you missed it, this letter was sent to the SitStayRead email list yesterday. Momofuku Milk Bar Compost Cookie recipe by Christina Tosi (as seen on Regis & Kelly)
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, unsalted
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 Tbsp corn syrup [Note: I left this out; not because I'm against corn syrup, I just didn't have it. The cookies came out fine, though may have had a nicer sheen with the syrup.]
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsps Kosher salt
1 1/2 cups your favorite baking ingredients (options: chocolate chips, Raisenettes, Rollos, Cocoa Krispies)
1 1/2 cups your favorite snack foods (chips, pretzels, etc.)
Note: Patti used Ghirardelli chocolate chips and crushed pretzels and potato chips and Rice Krispies.
1. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugars and corn syrup on medium high for two to three minutes until fluffy and pale yellow in color. Scrape down the sides with a spatula.
2. On a lower speed, add eggs and vanilla to incorporate.
Increase mixing speed to medium-high and start a timer for 10 minutes. During this time the sugar granules will fully dissolve, the mixture will become an almost pale white color and your creamed mixture will double in size.
3. When time is up, on a lower speed, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Mix 45 - 60 seconds just until your dough comes together and all remnants of dry ingredients have incorporated. Do not walk away from your mixer during this time or you will risk over mixing the dough. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.
4. On the same low speed, add in the hodgepodge of your favorite baking ingredients and mix for 30 - 45 seconds until they evenly mix into the dough. Add in your favorite snack foods last, paddling again on low speed until they are just incorporated.
5. Using a 6 oz. ice cream scoop (I'm not sure how many ounces mine is, but it worked well), portion cookie dough onto a parchment lined sheetpan.
6. Wrap scooped cookie dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of one hour or up to 1 week.
DO NOT BAKE your cookies from room temperature or they will not hold their shape.
7. Heat the oven to 400 F. Take the plastic off your cookies and bake 9 to 11 minutes. While in the oven, the cookies will puff, crackle and spread.
At 9 minutes, the cookies should be browned on the edges and just beginning to brown towards the center. Leave the cookies in the oven for the additional minutes if these colors don't match up and your cookies still seem pale and doughy on the surface.
8. Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pan (good luck!) before transferring to a plate or an airtight container or tin for storage. At room temp, they'll keep five days.
We're happy to announce that a small quantity of Old Shore Vineyards 2010 "Sofia" Rose of Pinot Noir is now officially available to the public! Click here to purchase.
We're thrilled to announce that the 2011 batch of SitStayRead bookmarks has arrived featuring five new furry faces! 
That's Shandy with Evion, a young reader at Hendricks Academy, back in 2004. I can still remember how earnest Evion was when reading aloud. He'd be all smiles though when it came time to have Shandy do a trick. 
Today was an exciting day at the office! Two dogs passed the Dog Team Test to become part of our programs. Congratulations Smokey and Sofia! 
Hello, Sumner volunteers,
I didn't want to wait until next week to share Mrs. Pierre's good news and thanks with you. She pulled me aside during the program today and let me know that since we started coming, her students have been asking her if they can take home three and four books to read on the weekends. She said this is a big change in how much enthusiasm they have toward reading.
She also showed me the improvement in some of their reading fluency scores (i.e., DIBELS testing). Many of the students started the year in the 45-70 words-per-minute range and have now reached 90-120 words-per-minute! They are considered at grade level if they reach 90-words-per-minute at the beginning of third grade, and many of the students have already surpassed that in second grade. I cannot begin to express to you just how thankful Mrs. Pierre is for all the time and effort you are putting into helping her students improve their reading and writing; she said that the added excitement of new people and dogs has really pushed the students to do their absolute best. She was positively joyous while telling me about it!
Thank you all for the effort and time you put in to help these students. You are making a huge difference in their lives.
Happy Reading!
Jess Biscamp
