I'm a Winner!

Ladies and gentlemen, at 50,121 words, may I present to you a NaNoWriMo winner! I went about writing my novel in fits and starts and spent a lot of weekend days focused on driving the number up, while remaining woefully behind.  The best advice I have for anyone who wants to try this is to jump off the deep end and give it a try.  The amount of concentration it takes is insane, but the very act of finishing makes it seems so much more fun.  And even possible to do again.

Sometime.

In the future.

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Fingersmith is a typical Sarah Waters' novel in that she has written a Victorian-style novel set in historical England with interesting female characters, a lesbian love story and a complex plot line.  The complexity, however, of the plot of this novel far outstrips the others that I have read so far.  In Fingersmith, a young orphan, Sue Trinder, is raised by a baby farmer Mrs. Sucksby in a squalid flat in London.  A con-artist gentleman with a gambling problem comes into the house with a plan to swindle a country girl, Maud Lilly, out of her inheritance.  Sue follows the gentleman (known to his friends as Gentleman) to execute the plan and from there, everything is as you expect, until it isn't anymore.

I can't explain more without spoiling the twists and turns, but I will say that I haven't read a 500 page novel this quickly in a long time.  Knowing that there will be twists pushes you through the somewhat unsurprising first third of the book.  This section raises some questions and keeps you guessing, but the real drive comes in the latter two-thirds.  I will leave it at that - this is a provocative suspenseful Victorian novel that you never see coming.

Mirror, Mirror by Gregory Maguire

You may have heard of a little Broadway show called Wicked.  It was originally created from a book by Gregory Maguire who has made quite a name for himself re-telling fairytales and classic stories. I have had Mirror, Mirror on my to-read list for several years and finally got to it over the holiday weekend.

The novel re-tells the classic story of Snow White.  Maguire sets the story in the early 1500s with appearances by Cesare Borgia (the inspiration for Machiavelli's The Prince) and his sister Lucrezia.  Though he brings in history (which he admittedly takes liberties with for the sake of the drama), there also is a layer of the fantastic when it comes to the dwarves.  This re-telling was very entertaining and brought perspective to the tale we know so well as told by Disney.  The way that the mirror, for example, works into the story - a creation by the dwarves with magical elements, but maybe not quite the same magic as we thought - makes Snow White fresh, and almost possible.

I've enjoyed each of Gregory Maguire books from the Wicked series to his retelling of Cinderella (Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister).  Finally getting to this one was worth it, both for the story itself and to remind me to keep up with Maguire's latest books.

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

I list Jasper Fforde among my favorite authors whenever I get a chance.  He wrote the Thursday Next Eyre Affair series and the Nursery Crimes series.  As many reviewers pointed out, he sort of defies genre and does it in an incredible way.  He creates a fabulous alter-universe which is ridiculously complete and makes you want to run away and hide there. 

His latest series, Shades of Grey, takes a very different turn in similar territory.  In his latest universe, he creates a future world where people are separated into a rigid social structure based on color.  The color, however, is not our present-day focus on the color of one's skin, but rather the color in Fforde's latest book is to be perceived by the eye.  People can only see one color (or two in the case of compounds like Greens and Oranges) and are ordered by the ROYGBIV scale.  There is a whole mythology and history that is created throughout the story to (sort of) explain how the world has gotten to be this way.

Because it is the first of a planned series (at least a trilogy if the book jacket is to be believed), this book is really setting the scene.  There is only a hint of a conflict at the beginning and there is much to dig through before you get to the real mystery and action.  I almost put the book down impatiently, but with faith in Fforde, I carried on and all in all was not disappointed.

Also because of the scene-setting, I can't reveal too much of the plot without ruining the story (the book jacket itself gives away something that happens in the last third of the book. although as you might expect from Fforde, the story itself is still full of twists and turns), but I can say that a young man about to come of age in this strange world is sent to the Outer Fringes of society to learn a lesson (with an official Chair Census to conduct to learn humility).  He learns many and opens all sorts of doors that the powers that be, prefects and the Chromatagensia, want to keep shut.

The Thursday Next books are by far my favorite, but I will look out for future Shades of Grey books.  The witty style of Jasper Fforde makes all of his stories compelling and well worth the read.

Date Night Catch-up

There have been date nights, I'm sure, in the past two months, but I haven't been very good about tracking them.  For the past two weekends, though, we've had nights that definitely qualify.  Last weekend, we did an actually novel thing for us - go out in our neighborhood.  We so often go out to see friends on their turf, knowing that it's not always so easy to get them to come to us.  When we stay home, we really stay home.

So, on the night before Halloween, we opted out of everything but Brooklyn.  And it totally paid off.  We tried a restaurant that I had been to, but that was right up A's alley and found a fun relaxed neighborhood bar with NFL season ticket (clearly more of a plus for A than me, but it means we'll leave the house on Sundays now too).

Then, last night, I was whisked away after work into the world of the Malaysian Street Food Fair in Grand Central.  Laut, among many other restaurants, were there to give Manhattanites a taste of Malaysian food.  We had a fabulous cupcake (Malaysian Coconut and Toasted Almond) that may have been the best ever.

The date night ended up with him heading out to see the boys and with me heading home to the dog and the NaNoWriMo project (update coming!), but it was fun to share the experience together.  A date doesn't have to be a big dramatic evening (or even out of the house), and this was a fun way to spend some time at the end of a busy week.

Laut

Recently, I had the incredible opportunity (and you can too!) to try out Laut, a Michelin one-star Malaysian restaurant near Union Square in Manhattan. We were surprised that we breezed right in a week or so after the Michelin ratings were announced (apparently the masses have found it - call during busy times.  Lunch is still manageable.), but were happy to give it a shot.

I can't say enough about this restaurant.  Malaysian and Singaporean cuisine play a big role in our lives since Austin spent so much time there and I got to take a trip there myself.  We have tried a number of Malaysian restaurants in the city, and whenever Austin's parents come to town, we tend to hit one in particular. This last visit, we went to Laut twice with the in-laws (which makes, count it, three times in as many weeks for Austin).

A note: Michelin star does not mean stuffy or formal.  This is a simple Malaysian/Singaporean restaurant with amazing food and great service.  We got to speak with the owner and realized at the bottom of it all, this is finely prepared food made with serious heart.

Must Try Items: Beef Rendang, Roti Canai, Mee Siam, Peanut Pancake dessert, Soft Shell Crab Appetizer, Sake Bomb
(Really anything is good - feel free to experiment!)

Brooklyn Forager Round-Up

It has been a ridiculously long time since I checked in with my Brooklyn Forager posts.  The point was, of course, to track this more regularly, but, alas, this is an easy one to let slip for me.  Here's what has been cooking:

• Harvest Season in the Brooklyn Forager Garden
• Walnut Rosemary Oven-Fried Chicken
• October Daring Cooks Challenge: Stuffed Grape Leaves (This is also my first one back after some time off! I need to get back on my challenges.)
• Late Summer BLT Salad
• Changing Seasons: Swiss Chard and Bacon Risotto
• Summer Weeknight Supper: Zucchini, Tomato and Ricotta Tart
• Bento Lunch Special: Sesame Balsamic Chicken, Pineapple Fried Rice and Roasted Broccoli 

This round-up also highlights the need to get posting! I have a couple of posts lined up, so that's great.  I also need to really figure out how and when to write.  I seem to write in fits and starts and can generally get 3-4 posts up a month, but I'd really like to be blogging (whether here, Brooklyn Forager or my other blogs) every day.  

Hiking in Hibernia

This weekend, I headed off with a group of family members to hike into the hills in Hibernia, NJ.  In the late 1800s and beginning of the 20th century, there was a mining town complete with a railroad, a church and a cemetery.  The cemetery holds the graves of many miners and their families including my great-great-great-grandfather Thomas Heslin.  The day was beautiful, with gorgeous fall colors, bright sunshine and great company. Here are some more photos from our day: 

September in Sonoma

Last month, we got to head out to Sonoma County for a wine tasting trip (there might have been a wedding in there somewhere)! I took woefully few photos, but drank lots of great wine and had much merriment with friends. The wineries we tried were: 

• St. Francis  - notably delicious zins and a wine pairing lunch on the patio that we didn't try, but would take me back. 
• Martinelli - more great zins, interesting sauvignon blancs and even a moscato that was very drinkable
• Arista - known for their pinot noirs which were delicious, as was a pinot gris

Catching up on Reading

I've also been reading in the background and while I wanted to write these up individually, life gets in the way.  I've got a post in the works for one of the books since that is part of a bigger portion of the project (stay tuned!) and the book I'm reading for my October non-fiction will definitely get its own writeup with more exciting things to come from that as well.

• Peony in Love by Lisa See
• Triumph by Carolyn Jessop
• Black Boy by Richard Wright (separate post coming)

Netflix Round-Up: Veronica Mars, Bones and More

I've fallen behind on my round-up, but not on my watching! Our Instant Queue keeps us very entertained, so that's great.  I also dropped our discs at home to two, so keeping up with my 101-things goals means I'll be ahead of the game which is even better!

So, since I last checked in, we've been watching:

• Veronica Mars (um, all three seasons.  What? I was home all day!)
• Bones Season 2
• Avatar Las Airbender
• Up in the Air
• The Men who Stare at Goats
• Beavers: IMAX
• Some Firefly

Altogether, 19 discs since my last round-up.  That's actually on the scary side.  I wanted to separately write up Up in the Air and The Men who Stare at Goats because both were inspiring and thought-provoking in their ways.  Alas, I waited too long and the time has passed.  Both worth watching for very different reasons.  And before you judge on the Beavers movie, they are fascinating little buggers. 

NaNoWriMo is Coming!

November is NaNoWriMo month! The goal is to write a novel of 50,000 words in 30 days.  It does not have to be good and we're not supposed to edit.  Just get it all down on paper and think about it later.  I've never tried anything of this magnitude ever, so I'm very excited to give it a try.  I also realized that my 101 things deadlines only gives me two shots, so the pressure is on, friends.  

The novel must be original (not already a work-in-progress), but you can use character sketches, plot ideas, things you've thought about before.  I'm trying to use October to at least think of things I could write about enough to get 50,000 words.  So far I have some ideas, but they shift daily.  I'm using 750Words to write a little bit every day (to finish the novel, one needs to write 1600 words a day!) and try to gather those thoughts.  

750Words is modeled on the morning pages concept (with the glaring difference that Julia Cameron wants you to hand write and apparently so do scientists so that your brain and your hands are engaged), and it is mostly working so far.  I did miss one day in October, so I can't say that I'll get to cross that one of the list this month, but I'm on a 6 day streak, so that bodes well! 

Anniversary Date Night

September 6th came and went, but I'm just getting through my pictures now.  For a lot of reasons, we celebrated close to home with a bottle of Champagne from our wedding, a selection of Vermont cheeses and a dark chocolate cowpie.

xoxoxo

The Teaberry Strangler by Laura Childs

Another guilty pleasure! This one is a mystery series set in Charleston, SC with the added fun of a tea shop owner and her buddies planning tea-related events throughout the historic district.  It also includes recipes, although they can be hit-or-miss in terms of my own personal taste (but who doesn't love scones, cakes and tea sandwiches of any combination?).  The Teaberry Strangler had the least amount of actual detective work in the story, but succeeded, as most of the books do, in making me want to do-not-pass-go straight to Charleston.  Or at least sip on some tea.

Couch to 5K: Complete!

After an excruciatingly long period, I finally finished the Couch to 5K program! Some might argue that my on-again/off-again approach was less than orthodox, but all things considered, the goal was to finish and I made it through the week 9 exercises running more than a 5K and feeling pretty awesome about it.  That sounds like goal achieved to me!

I considered going through it a second time since I've had a setback in my general training, but I don't think I need to go back to the start, so I'm going to close this bad boy out and think about new fitness goals for the rest of this year and next.  I still have to work on my yoga and getting to a place where I can knock off the 4x a week workout goal, not to mention the 5K race which is tentatively scheduled for November 21. Stay tuned!

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

The third book in this trilogy is, for me, easily the best of the set.  Larsson picks up where the second book left off (don't listen to anyone who says you can read these out of order! It's a much better experience if you read them through and the last two have to be read in order for sure.) and the story moves at a faster pace than the others.  There are overly detailed digressions as is par for the Stieg-Larsson course, but they flow through the story and keep things moving along (and keep you guessing).

I'm very sad that there will be no more books in this series, but they finished with a bang and I really enjoyed them all.

More Than It Hurts You by Darin Strauss

This book got me thinking about what exactly makes a good story.  Unequivocally, I enjoy a book that completely absorbs me and leaves me wanting more at its end.  I love being surprised and engaged.  And I'm sure there are other things that make up the reasons that I prefer certain books over others, but I don't often go through asking myself why. 

More Than It Hurts You earned itself a spot on the recommendations list, although at times I found myself distracted and wondering if it was more than any other decent modern fiction novel.  It tells the story of a young couple and their infant son going up against a single mother doctor who is handling her own issues with her father.  The jacket sets your focus on the husband, Josh Goldin, and his active choice to be ignorant and happy.  Events in the novel challenge that, as you might imagine, and he rather openly thinks about this issue in a way that is sort of believable but a little heavy handed. 

Darin Strauss uses a few techniques to make this book different than a typical soul searcher or contemplation of your average privileged suburban couple enduring life's hardships.  The first, however, I believe to be more of a distraction (and part of the reason I was reluctant to admit that this really was a good book).  The characters in the novel talk just like you and I do.  That is to say, with abrupt jarring sentences, incomplete sentences and even incomplete thoughts.  Yes, I have read novels where I thought characters were too well planned, too thoughtful in their speech (and that's often the case in movies).  Here, I found it too much of an attempt to be real and distracting from the story.  I understood that these people were just like me, but I didn't need it to be so in my face. 

The other things that Strauss played with include the story structure and how he brings each part of the story to light, the method of story telling (embedding news articles about the characters to get background information in front of the reader) and pacing.  These elements were what set the book apart.  Ultimately, I believe the book is about perspective.  Not just Josh's, but everyone's perspective, including the reader.  As the story moved on, I found myself winking back at Strauss when I realized that he had even played with my perspective based on the choices he made in setting up the story.  Every author does this, but Strauss does it with just a heavy enough hand to punctuate his message and enhance the entire experience. 

So, I can't tell you more without ruining your experience, but this book surprised me, engaged me and definitely left me wanting more. 

The Secret Life of Bees

A few years back, I read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd and really loved it.  It's really a lovely story about strong and interesting women and love and magic and, of course, honey.  Because I got a lot out of the novel, I'm glad that I waited a considerable amount of time before seeing the movie.

The movie is well-acted, well-written and visually pleasing.  It hits most of the high points and tells a great story.  I even forgot to pick at all the places it departed from the book while I was watching the film.  As far as most book-to-film attempts, I'd say this made a really good effort.

As I thought about it after the movie, there were a number of things missing that could have been built in more.  Like the magic.  I understand that might make a movie harder to sell and that current audiences want either completely fantastic or gritty realist films.  I like stories that are in between, that have the kind of magic you think maybe exists in the real world if you looked hard enough or if you had been able to go to August Boatwright's honey house.

Including more of this in the film would have taken it just a step farther for me and would have helped make more sense of certain aspects, such as Lily's sadness over bringing the real world into the honey farm and the real power of the spiritual community with the Black Madonna.  I'd say this is a solid B or B+, but it could have gone the distance.

High Five by Janet Evanovich

As fun quick-read mysteries go, I have a couple of series in my arsenal.  I've already come out of my bakery shop mysteries and hinted at the tea shop ones which fall into the same cheesy, light and recipe-laden mysteries.  The other series that I mix in when I need something on the lighter side is the Stephanie Plum series.  Stephanie Plum is a former lingerie-buyer turned bounty hunter in 1990s New Jersey (near Trenton).  Her family and her adventures are hilarious.

The fifth book, High Five, follows the fairly predictable Stephanie Plum plot scheme - a small-time bounty assignment or family assignment (in this case both) leads to a series of dangerous and funny escapades.  I think this one is, so far, the funniest of the bunch.  I actually laughed out loud several times (which was difficult since I'm sore and laughing did not feel that awesome) and raced through the book in just a couple of hours.  As many Stephanie Plum readers will acknowledge, Stephanie's grandmother, Grandma Mazur, was the source of 95% of the laughter.

I love these books and have the next couple on standby to mix in with other things.  They're so much fun.

(Note: I'm pretty behind on updating books, so there will be plenty more to come in the next couple of days.)

Up!

Austin and I are on an endless search to find compromise movies.  We couldn't have more opposite taste which usually leads us to merely tolerating the selection of the other person.  At best, we both sort of like a movie - usually me more than I thought I would and him less (case in point, Kung Fu Panda). 

I've been begging to watch something and tonight we picked Up.  It's on Starz, so it only streams on Netflix for a short time which motivated us.  I am not sure exactly what I thought happened after the balloons lift the old man out of town, but it was a fun enjoyable movie that surprised me a bit, even if the lesson didn't.  It definitely made me want to make sure I'm taking my adventures while I can and appreciating the quiet moments in between.  

Brooklyn Forager: Rainbow Swiss Chard with Anchovies, Pine Nuts and Cranberries over Polenta

I'm not sure where I left off with blog posts over at the Brooklyn Forager, but I do know that it's been awhile since I posted anything.  As I'm getting my energy back, I'm trying to get a bunch written so I can automate my posts more during the week and I won't fall quite so far behind.

On that note, I just posted about a really tasty Rainbow Swiss Chard with Anchovies, Pine Nuts and Cranberries over Polenta.  It was a new recipe to me as well! I can definitely see this one coming up again since we both enjoyed it and you can't deny that it is nice and healthy.

All the Pretty Girls by J.T. Ellison

I convinced myself that there was a film, in addition to Kiss the Girls, with Ashley Judd based on this book.  I almost always prefer reading the book first and so I ordered the book from PaperbackSwap and had it on my list for quite some time.  That was before I took the time to notice that it was written in 2007 and realized how unlikely that might be.  But it was also after I read the book and I'm not sorry about that.

I figured out the mystery in this thriller fairly early on.  Still, I wasn't sure and J.T. Ellison kept serving up just enough details to keep me unsure and even lead me down slightly different paths.  If I hadn't had an inkling, I would say this book had some interesting twists.  If you're suspicious from the start, it's still an enjoyable read.

Depending on how you look at it, there is one significant fallout from my mistake about the movie.  Apparently, this is the first book in a series about Detective Taylor Jackson.  As noted in my confessional about cozy mysteries, I have a tendency to stick through a series.  I already ordered the second book in this series (there are three so far that I have found) and will give it a shot.  Austin might kill me for getting started on a new series when I have so many books waiting, but it's always good to have another one in the wings.

Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

I finished this book much earlier in the month and have a lot to say, but time has sort of faded the rush of things I wanted to share about this book.  Bear with me as I give it a shot.

Adrian Nicole LeBlanc went to court to report on the trial of a drug dealer from the Bronx.  That trip turned into a detailed book looking at the lives of a handful of women, their children and some of the men surrounding them trying to get by both in the Bronx and Troy, New York.  First, she follows Jessica, one of the drug dealers girlfriends, and sets up the neighborhood and the cast of characters.  Her brother Cesar meets a young girl, Coco, who falls for him and ends up with two kids by him as well as others.

The author has incredible detail and insight as she combed through court documents, personal letters and even went to live with the women she was writing about for this book.  She reports on their lives without judgment, tying together the stories of mothers, grandmothers and children repeating each other's patterns in their desperate attempts to change and start down a new road.

I found this book fascinating and bewildering and, at times, depressing.  I definitely think this book is worth digging into and discovering.

Cream Puff Murder by Joanne Fluke

One of my guilty reading pleasures is the cozy mystery genre.  These quick uncomplicated mysteries often have some nexus to a hobby (I like the ones with recipes, but I've read others including scrapbooking and gourd carving of all things) and follow a general format: a non-detective ends up finding a body and getting involved in a mystery, often to absolve another innocent character, and does so with the help of a friend who actually is a detective.

This one was particularly light on the investigation, but is light fluff and a quick read for hot summer nights when there isn't much going on.  I'll keep reading as long as they keep putting out the series, but these are not must-reads unless the idea is interesting to you.

De-clutter the Office

If I'm honest, we've done this a couple of times since I started the list.  I promised myself that I wouldn't cross it off if we weren't really going to keep it nice and useable instead of using it as a storage space for things we don't want anymore but are too afraid to get rid of for one reason or another.

Today, I'm confident we can cross this one off the list.  We're preparing the room for my sister to come visit and really thought about how to make it more comfortable.  Books I haven't read yet have been boxed up and stored (another issue to deal with, but for now they are comfortable stowed and not in anyone's way) and the closet space has been cleared and re-organized.

We still have too much stuff, but I'm starting to feel really confident that the space is being used by things that at least I love and will use when we have a different living space.

Monroe, MI and Cleveland, OH!

This past weekend, I managed to knock 2 out of 3 states off my list which is so exciting that I can't even explain! I'll keep track of overage on this one since I have a side goal to make it to all 50 states in my life.

Funny story, I explained my goal to my managing editor last week and how excited I was to add two more states to my list.  He asked what my criterion was for an actual visit.  I stuttered.  I gave him the quintessentially weak "I'll know it when I see it" answer.

Then, it hit me.  A meal! Not an airport meal, since that's too easy.  I've had some great regional airport meals (Chik-Fil-A at the Atlanta airport - if you're flying through, it's a must), but even the lazy girl in me knows that doesn't count.

And so I started this weekend with that intention.  I had several meals in Monroe including a meal of chicken chunks (that's how it was advertised - and why my husband wanted to eat it....) and a much better meal of poached chicken and pulled pork at a beautiful wedding on a farm.

We also got to visit another food mecca (Isn't it? If not, it should be!) known as Beef Jerky Unlimited in Luna Pier, MI.  That edged us up another snack since the fabulous assistant at the shop gave us loads of free samples and great stories.  Just before that, since my tourist bug and the list come first, I stuck my toes in Lake Erie at the beach at Luna Pier.  I hadn't thought of a visit all 5 lakes list item, but I might have to next time around.

With all this Michigan talk, you might wonder where Cleveland came in.  We flew in and out of Cleveland and drove two hours up to Michigan.  The trip drove us near such Ohio hot spots as Toledo and, fittingly, Brooklyn.  On our way back to the airport, we hit up the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame which is set in another corner of Lake Erie, near pretty much every Cleveland museum or sports arena.  (Look for the next post on museum trips which will give the skinny on the HOF.)

As we boarded the flight home, I realized that the only Cleveland meal I had consisted of a quickie dinner at Cheeburger Cheeburger in the Cleveland airport (apparently we've got that one in Forest Hills).  A no go.  So I've updated my rule to include some sort of major attraction. Because, darn it, Cleveland counts! I saw multiple stadiums, the miffed LeBron fans selling obscene t-shirts near those attractions and considered a plate of Love Me Chicken Tenders at the museum.

So there we have it - two new states in one weekend!

Working on my Fitness

I haven't decided when I get to cross off the exercise tab.  Because really, if you want to get technical, I probably get to once I've finished one week with four days of exercise for 45 minutes.  The spirit of the item, though, is to really make this a habit.  So I'm going to give myself a little bit more time before I start patting myself too hard on the back.

For a couple of weeks, I was hitting the gym about three times and getting in some sort of fun maybe-fitness weekend activity (like whitewater rafting or dancing on Fire Island).  This past week, however, was the first time that I really had full on workouts for the whole week.  My new workout schedule is a 2-1/2-1 plan which is two days of strength training (one day upper body, one day lower) and cardio (roughly 30 minutes each although I skimp on the cardio if I'm running late) and one day of either longer cardio (45-60 minutes) or some fun class or outdoor activity like yoga or whatever strikes my fancy.

I'm planning on continuing this for another couple of weeks at least or until I have to stop for personal reasons (which will be some time in the next two months).  I will have to think about whether I get to cross it off then or if I should wait until I'm back on track again to make sure I've really picked up the habit. For now, I'm just excited about the workouts which included two yoga classes and a lot of sore muscles.

Diary of a Anorexic GIrl by Morgan Menzie

So, I really am stretching it by calling this one non-fiction.  I generally include memoirs even though that's usually a completely different genre.  This time, I chose a based-on-a-true-story diary which means that it is a lot embellished or fictionalized and certainly crafted more than a chronicle. But since I had to read three  this month to catch up, I say it counts.  For August, I'll step it back up a notch.

As the title suggests, this book is the diary of a girl throughout middle school and high school dealing with your typical teen angst issues - fitting in, finding a boyfriend and trying to figure out who you are - as well as her process pretty much from start to finish of dealing with anorexia.  The diary certainly hit the nail on the head when it comes to that self-aware intelligent teen with a flare for the dramatic writing for herself.  I'm fairly certain if I went back to my diaries, I'd find a very similar style and even the sporadic letters to the future and side commentary to the reader.

Because the character was so familiar, it was easy to get absorbed in Blythe's world and even start to believe her worldview made just a little bit of sense.  This leaves you a little bit shocked when all of a sudden the outside world breaks in and you realize just how unhealthy Blythe has gotten.  This book was heartfelt and honest and an interesting way to present the issue.

It looks like it is in a series of religious teen help books which I didn't realize when I picked it up.  Blythe's school is a Christian private school and she does write about her issues with faith throughout her worries about boys, friends and clothes, but it doesn't overwhelm the book.   There are some very very brief guides in the back about how to get help if you have an eating disorder and how to help a friend with one.  My jury is still out on whether this book would help someone who was struggling themselves, but it might give a bit of insight to someone worried about a friend or child.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book to just anyone.  I don't think it was ground-breaking or so provocative that it should make it onto people's lists.  But there is a right time and a place for everything. It might be educational in certain situations and then I would say it's worth a read.

Everyone Says I Love You

I rewarded myself after a long week with a lazy night in with the dog, Netflix streaming and a glass of wine.  I generally find the whole Netflix thing hard because of all the hundreds of movies that are available to me, I can almost never pick *the* movie that I want to see right now.  That's even harder with streaming because the movies are not the Oscar nominees or big blockbusters that at least I know I should see.

Netflix streaming does have Starz movies only available for a short time which helped me pick Woody Allen's Everyone Says aI Love You last night.  It was my only movie with a deadline, one that I've wanted to see pretty much since 1997 when it came out and it's not really available on DVD via Netflix.  So, it won out.

I enjoyed the movie, although I couldn't really tell if it was taking itself seriously (as seriously as a musical comedy can) or it it was trying to be tongue-in-cheek about the whole musical thing.  I don't think the story really went anywhere and there were too many overlapping stories to really make you feel like there was one big dramatic arc, but it was light.  The singing also was pretty mediocre, but I don't think that Drew Barrymore, Ed Norton, Alan Alda, Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts or Woody Allen were chosen for their singing voices.  All in all, I have it a solid three stars since it was fun, but I didn't get too caught up in it and I definitely don't need to see it again.

Escape by Carolyn Jessop

I am fascinated by the FLDS culture - both non-fiction and fictionalized.  I've read a handful of books and articles and of course watch Big Love.  This is the first real account that I've come across and it was fascinating.  Carolyn Jessop escaped the Colorado City FLDS community in her early thirties with eight children (including one with serious medical needs and a preemie) and managed to secure her freedom from one of the most powerful men in the FLDS community run by Warren Jeffs.

Warren Jeffs is the one that most of us heard about in the last couple of years, on the run and capture in Vegas with wigs and a stash of cash.  Carolyn spent enough time in the Colorado City community to be able to reflect on the changes over thirty years from a seemingly more open and liberal society to the fanatical conservative compound that Warren Jeffs created in Texas.  Her awakening and realizations about the ways religion was corrupted by greedy men as mind control are captivating.

Carolyn Jessop's personal story is at once fascinating and terrifying.  The book itself could use some serious editing, but it strings you along nonetheless.  The tales of abuse are intense and the relationships between the Jessop family members alone are incredible.  Carolyn's struggles to protect herself and her children are inspiring.

There are too many more adjectives I could bring out to describe this reading experience.  The mind boggles, as they say.  I highly recommend this one.

Brooklyn Forager Post Round Up

The goal is to be more on top of getting things listed over here.  I think I'm up to date on the list for number of blog posts written (give or take a couple), but I haven't been listing or linking here for awhile.  Here are the ones that I missed:

• Scallion update!
• Ginger Scallion Noodles with a Twist
• Vermont Special: Earl's Eggs with Chinese Chives
• Sundays in Brooklyn: The Pizza Edition
• Roasted Chicken with Balsamic Rosemary Vinaigrette
• Meatless Monday: Spicy Garbanzo Burritos with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

Date Afternoon: Polo and Danny Meyer picnic

Back in June, we went out to Governor's Island to check it out and to watch Prince Harry in a polo match.  The island itself was lovely despite the oppressive heat.  We couldn't see all that much of the polo since the grounds were pretty crowded and people had obviously gotten there quite early to set up picnic spots.

We did get to have food from Box Frites and Blue Smoke (Danny Meyer's catering company did the concession stands) and Austin got to see Prince Harry's horse ride by without Prince Harry when he took a tumble.  It was a lovely date afternoon which we followed up with beers on Water Taxi Beach with some friends who met us out there after the match.

New Recipe Round-Up

I've been tracking my new recipes in a list, but not so diligently.  I am going to catch up with a quick list of a couple and then I'll probably do a monthly round-up going forward.

For now, the recipes I've tried in the recent past include:
Tofu Basil Noodles with Mint Dressing
Broiled Five Spice Salmon with Sesame Black Bean Sauce
Crunchy Chickpea Salad
Sesame Balsamic Chicken

They each turned out well, but I haven't blogged about them yet.  I will try to remember and update this post with links or else they will get included in a Brooklyn Forager round-up when I get organized enough to put one together.

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

Did you read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? If you have any interest, you probably should.  Then read this one.  It's the second in the series about Lisbeth Salander and another insane mystery.  There's been some pushback because of the hype, but I really got into these books.  The second one is even more interesting to me because the scenery has been set and the reader gets to delve further into Lisbeth's character.  She is endless fascinating and a very interesting drama evolves throughout the book.  I am counting the minutes until I can read the third (and sadly final) installment.

Deerfield River Whitewater Rafting

I set off to Vermont this past weekend with some friends.  Usually our Vermont weekends are relaxing, but not so very adventurous.  This time we decided to head down to Massachusetts and go whitewater rafting.  The experience was fabulous and I can't believe that I didn't do this previously.

We spent a couple of hours on the Deerfield River near Charlemont, MA.  There were about 7-9 rapids all either Class 3 or Class 4.  I am definitely going to do this again - so much fun! (The picture above isn't our group, but that's the same company - Moxie Adventures - out on the same river.)

This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitin

 I haven't been keeping up with my non-fiction reading this year, but that's because this book took me the last two months to read.  Partly I wasn't giving enough time to it, but also this book is fairly technical and in-depth, so it was slow going.

Overall, I found the book interesting - I think a lot more research has to be done, but reading about some of the theories and studies was engaging.  My main complaint is that it sells itself as the answer to some very intriguing questions like why a song gets stuck in your head and plays over and over.  In the end, that was one part of one page and I wasn't really satisfied.

Catching up on Netflix: Dexter, Avatar: The Last Airbender....and Paul Blart Mall Cop

It occurred to me recently that I wasn't doing very well on my DVD watching.  Austin reminded me, however, that we had been watching up a storm on Netflix Instant Watching.  So I just took it upon myself to find out the DVD equivalent of what we've been watching and add it to the total.  Yes, it's fudging a bit, but basically the underlying goal is get what we are paying for, so it counts!

We're on the second season of Dexter which is brilliant and addictive and provocative.  I just found out that the third season is not available instantly, so we will definitely be back on track with physical DVDs once we are there.  We've watched 7 DVDs so far on this one.

Another that we've been watching whenever Dexter isn't on is Avatar: The Last Airbender.  The movie is coming out on Thursday (!) so we started watching from the beginning to make sure we remembered the whole story and had seen what we needed to see.  We're hoping the movie is just Book 1 (it's a planned trilogy, so it's likely) since that's all we'll get through before the movie.  3 DVDs here.

And finally, Austin has his own queue, so those movies count too! He took it upon himself to watch Paul Blart Mall Cop on the XBox, and that actually brings us right up to 18 DVDs/movies/shows/whatevers total which is right on track for 3/mth.  Now that there is no regular TV on, I have a feeling we'll be more motivated to use our actual DVDs - we've got The Wire and Big Love lined up as well as loads of movies.

Boat Quay, Singapore - A Couple's Project

In my silence, I've actually been moving forward a bit on this list.  This one was a surprise even to me! I'd been keeping my eye out for large puzzles to tackle, trying to balance price with my interest in keeping it around as a momento.

Imagine my surprise when a puzzle made its way to us via mail order.  Austin picked out a puzzle as a present both to support my list item and to do as an inexpensive and fun activity together.  I think we found another couple hobby by accident! It was so much fun to put together the puzzle that we avoided TV (me) and video games (him) more often than not to put it all together.  We'll definitely be doing this one again....

A Place to Rest my Head

At some point after high school, I decided that I would consider myself "arrived" if I had a real honest-to-goodness bed.  I had a lovely bed growing up, but that devolved quickly into the old metal bed frames in college and even a handful of years with the bed on the floor.

My day has come !

Back When We Were Grown Ups by Anne Tyler

In this novel, a middle-aged woman stops for a moment and realizes that she is fairly sure she has become the "wrong woman".  She takes the time to examine her life as a widow with three stepdaughters, one daughter, an aged uncle-in-law, a brother-in-law and several grandchildren all in her care in one way or another.  

The premise intrigued me. I'm a fan of the "what if" novel if and when it is done cleverly.  I can't say that this one was done in a clever way.  It was thoughtful, insightful and enjoyable, but I would say that it was pretty much what might be expected.  A relatively quick read overall. 

Brooklyn Museum

I've been meaning to post on this one for over a week, but alas, time gets away from me.  Just before I started the new job, I made it a point to at least get to the Brooklyn Museum once since it had been on my list for months.

I saw three inspiring exhibits - The Dinner Party which is a permanent installation at the Museum, a Kiki Smith exhibit combining drawing, sculpture, decorative arts and other media, and the American fashion exhibit on loan through the Museum's relationship with the Costume Institute with the Met.  They made me much more excited about art than I had been in a long time and, believe it or not, I found the decorative arts pieces to be perhaps the most interesting. 

Only nine more museum trips to go!

Everything's Coming up Pickles!

I posted another blog post over at the Brooklyn Forager about two different pickle recipes that we've been enjoying lately.  Yum! I haven't been very good at my weekly posts, but I've gotten three posts in the last couple of weeks, so hopefully I'm averaging out over time.

Our Garden Grows in Brooklyn

A few weeks ago, as Austin and I trekked from home improvement store to home improvement store, it occurred to me that the terrace garden was finally becoming the bigger project that both of us had dreamed of previously.  We had taken the time to draw out plans for potter placement in 2009, but threw things together rather quickly in the past two summers. 


This year, we visited several stores and spent much more time selecting our potters and thinking about the sorts of produce we wanted to consume throughout the summer.  Austin is really the gardener, so he did the heavy lifting in terms of researching the needs of each crop, while I mainly thought with my stomach and made requests for things I'd like to have accessible. 


Because of this team approach that we worked out, we also realized that, for the most part, this has become our collective hobby.  That knocks off both #67 and #89.  I'd thought our hobby would be something with set practice times like tennis or something that we would incorporate into our travels like wine tasting or kayaking.  For now, this works out well and may take us on interesting adventures as we pursue urban gardening and farm-to-table dining throughout the city and beyond. 

Kefi

A couple of weeks ago, we had a family dinner out at Kefi on the Upper West Side.  I've had this restaurant on my list for some time and was not disappointed.  Kefi is a relatively inexpensive Greek restaurant which has excellent food and great decor.  I like the upstairs blue/white colors better than the more rustic colors downstairs (we ate downstairs), but my sheep's milk dumplings with tomato sauce and spicy Greek sausage made me very happy. It's an awkward neighborhood for us, especially on the weekends when the subway is unpredictable, but if I find myself up there or willing to travel, I'd definitely return.

Red, White and Drunk All Over by Natalie MacLean

It seems I have a tendency to finish each month's non-fiction book in the month after I start it, but I get it done nonetheless! 

This book was actually a really interesting and information-packed exploration of wine, literally (as the longer title suggests) from grape to glass.  Natalie MacLean is a wine writer from Canada who fell into wine writing and has taken her journey across the US and Europe to compile great stories about the growing of pinot noir and Champagne, as well as the processes behind wine making, wine tasting and wine selling (with some wine collecting in there to boot).

The style of the book is approachable and informative and I found I wished I was reading with a highlighter and pencil to retain more of the information.  Since Natalie packages this information as a memoir of her discoveries as well, it is not overwhelming or overly thick.  I will definitely keep this one on the shelf and revisit it in the future as a resource.  

Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult

Harvesting the Heart shows that, as always, Jodi Picoult can be counted on for a good, quick, emotional read.  This one focuses on the relationship between Nicholas and Paige over the course of their quick courtship and subsequent marriage.  Paige is a teenager, barely out of high school, when she meets Nicholas, a successful medical student.  Throughout their relationship, they have to focus on and figure out what makes each of them happy, what leaves them empty, and how to just make it through the next day.

Overall, I would rate this an average Picoult read.  Definitely not a must read, but it kept me engaged and was worth the time spent.

Until I Find You by John Irving

John Irving has long been one of my favorite authors.  This book, which one review predicts will be considered his grand opus, both made me completely question my love for John Irving's novels and also completely reaffirmed it.  The material is emotionally difficult, for sure, although that is nothing new for an Irving novel. 

The expansive nature of the story really brought home the common themes and plot elements that are common to all of the Irving stories I've read (The World According to Garp, Hotel New Hampshire, The Cider House Rules, A Widow for One Year, A Prayer for Owen Meany) - of course the locations and the depth of study in each area, but also the mommy issues, the wrestling, the detached writers without a sense of who they are.  At first, hitting a familiar element made me sigh and wonder (although never question the worth of finishing all 1000+ pages).  But, above all, Until I Find You is a story about story telling and storytellers and audiences.  As the story moves onward, it all becomes clear and seamless and works beautifully.

Still one of my favorites.  Hands down.

Cauliflower Curry Soup or Aloo Gobi Soup

Last night I tried a recipe that I had been holding onto for awhile - Curried Cauliflower Cream Soup from The Splendid Table Weeknight Dinner emails.  It really couldn't be easier - garlic, onions, potatoes, cauliflower, curry powder and broth cooked together for a total of 35 minutes (there are a couple of steps in there, but minimal chopping and mostly inactive time) and then blended with an immersion blender.  Serve with a squeeze of lemon and a dollop of yogurt and you've got a great light creamy soup.  The best part is the cheddar tartines (let's be honest, it's cheesy bread) to dip in the soup.

I refer to it as Aloo Gobi Soup or Cauliflower Curry Soup mainly because there is no cream and I love aloo gobi.  I also figured it was a way to get Austin a little more excited about cauliflower.  I would definitely make this again, perhaps tweaking the spices to make it a bit more complex.  For dinner in a hurry, though, it's a winner.

Look for the recipe at Brooklyn Forager when I get back on track posting over there. 

Big Love, Season 3: Disc 1

Got another DVD watched this past weekend.  It's been so long since I saw the last season of Big Love that I really didn't remember what was going on and I'm fairly sure I missed one or two episodes at the end.  Regardless, I started up with this DVD and I have missed the show - I'm looking forward to seeing more without a doubt.

Crockpot Pulled Pork and Crab Cakes

This weekend, I tried out two new recipes which are worth noting and will definitely count as food blog entries once I get around to writing about them and putting them up on Brooklyn Forager.

The first was Ina Garten's crabcakes with remoulade.  I was nervous about these since the first few turned out crumbly and not quite browned enough.  My husband thanked me for the early errors since he got to try them out and once I got in my groove, the recipe got the Austin seal of approval. 

The second was pulled pork sandwiches.  I have actually debated using this one in the challenge because the whole recipe called for making biscuits from scratch.  I was traveling with my food and didn't want to cram too much into the morning before I headed to the party I was cooking for and also wasn't sure how the biscuits would keep.  The pork itself turned out very well and was such an easy crockpot recipe that I will be making it again.  I figured that's enough to count it as a new recipe even without the biscuits!

Multiple Blessings by Kate Gosselin and Beth Carson

I admit it.  I have an ongoing interest in the Gosselin family.  Not really the tabloid craziness of late or even Kate on Dancing with the Stars.  But I absolutely loved the show and loved the children and even found myself on Team Kate in the early days of the tabloid craziness.

All of this led me to read Multiple Blessings which is Kate's story about pre- and post-sextuplet (but pre-regular show) life in the Gosselin household.  I was interested to hear more about their lives at that time.  I think the book is frank, if somewhat self-serving in its justifications of her control freak/aggressive mama bear behavior.  The book also focuses heavily on Kate's relationship with God and her faith which can be off-putting, but also explains a lot about her own thought process and how she gets through each day.

I wouldn't tell anyone to go out and get this book, even if you have (or had) Gosselin fever, but I got it for free, so it wasn't a total waste of time.  There isn't much here that wasn't in the recap episodes or the original documentary piece, so if you've seen it all, you've already read this book.

47. Read 202 new books.

Mercy

I finished two relatively quick reads in the past week or two.  First, Mercy by Jodi Picoult which is the story of another small town in New England rocked by death (murder?) and a novel criminal trial.  Someone once called Jodi Picoult novels the "Lifetime movies" of fiction novels and I have to say it couldn't be more true. 

Each one has the crucial mix of love, despair, suspense and small town dramatics.  But rather than be trite or (too) formulaic, I find them all, including Mercy, to be engaging reads that are thought provoking but light and ultimately enjoyable, even if I get too emotionally involved.  Some are better than others and I'd say this one comes in about the middle of the pack. 

I also read The Family Tree by Carol Cadwalader (for some reason I couldn't add a link).  This takes the family drama and flips it on its ear, looking at nature v. nurture, genetics v. experience.  The author uses some interesting elements to make this novel fresh as it is part personal account, part dissertation looking at words and concepts.  I don't think Cadwalader really followed completely through since the narration has the voice of a stunted 10 year old throughout each section, regardless of the fact that the now-grown woman is reflecting on her own childhood and that of her grandmother.  At the end, it was a good quick read, not great by any stretch of the imagination.

26. Do Yoga At Least Once Per Week.

I found my cardio yoga class - Core Yoga at Yoga People in Brooklyn.  It's offered by my favorite teacher twice a week so I have two options to take the class.  I am trying to go to the Gentle Restorative Yoga class weekly as well since it is so relaxing and generally needed after I spend the week working on my fitness.  Now that I've been a few times, I may try and do it on my own at home which leaves more room on the old yoga card for this Core Yoga class.  It is definitely a workout and really helps me focus on strengthening everything.  

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20. Dine al fresco 101 times.

My friends, the season is upon us! Spring is just starting to peep out and so eating outside may begin.  I met a couple of friends for lunch today and we, each with our little brown bags, sat on a bench in Manhattan and ate lunch in the sun.  It was so nice! I look forward to this particular item on the list most of all.  Hopefully there will be much more outdoor eating in my future. 

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47 & 48. Read 202 books/1 non-fiction per month

SICKENED THE MEMOIR OF A MUNCHAUSEN BY PROXY CHILDHOOD

So I'm back on track with my non-fiction reading.  In this case, Sickened is a memoir about a girl who lived for over twenty years being poisoned and manipulated by her mother, only discovering the truth when she started to pick up the pieces of her life on her own.  She was taking an abnormal psychology class and heard about Munchausen by Proxy (MBP) and had an awakening.

Julie Gregory tells her frightening and fascinating tale through her memories and if it's possible to believe, the MBP experience is only one of the horrors she experiences.  She also remembers the charming moments of her childhood, those that may still seem frightening to the outsider but those that warmed her and shaped her.  There were good days too.

I was looking to learn more substantive information about MBP when I read this, since it has come up in a few different articles and things that I've read recently.  This isn't a reference book, but it is a really well written memoir that gives some insight into the experience of a child affected by MBP.  I definitely want to keep learning about this amazing disorder and am very glad that Julie Gregory put together such an interesting perspective on her life.

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47 & 48 - Read 202 books and at least 1 non-fiction book per month.

Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success

I fell behind in my non-fiction reading for February, but I'm on a roll this month and plan to catch up.  This book was a gift from a family member to help me think outside-the-box about what it is I want to do in life other than my 101 things (amazing to think there might be even more than that!).  This is an interesting approach to defining and creating yourself as a brand and learning how to market yourself accordingly.

The methods suggested in this book are very Web 2.0 - using the internet and its latest social networking capabilities to establish yourself and your brand and open doors.  I am just a bit too old to be Gen Y (defined as starting at 1982), but I feel like I am savvy enough to have learned a lot and to be able to implement some of these techniques as I go forward in building my career. 

For those who already have a sense of a personal brand or a strong set of goals, the book can be extremely helpful.  I'd say it's a bit light on finding that brand if you're starting from zero, but there are some exercises that will yield results and start the thinking process.  All around a very interesting read and a useful new perspective on careers and technology.

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22. Try 10 new restaurants

I limited my restaurant goal to 10 new restaurants because while I love trying new restaurants, we tend to be homebodies and eat at home more often than not.  This past weekend, however, I had a surprise staycation in NYC and got to try a couple of new restaurants that I really liked. 

The first was Spice Market which has been on my list forever.  It has a mix of Asian-influenced dishes including Indian, Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese influences.  I had a lovely chicken and coconut milk soup, great chicken samosas, spring rolls and a number of other tasty small plates.  The decor is incredible and really transports you out of the meatpacking district and into another world.

The second was Almond, a take on the French bistro.  They had a really interesting mix of typical bistro fare such as steak frites and innovative and creative dishes like a homemade cavatelli with shrimp sausage and chick peas.  I sampled the cavatelli which was really satisfying and refreshing.  Other stars that I really enjoyed (basically everything I ate) included the roasted beet salad with homemade ricotta crostini, salt cod croquetes and the prosciutto and truffle macaroni and cheese.  My one critique would be that in an effort to be really luxe and truffle-y, there may have actually been an overload of truffle in the gratin.  The dish included chopped truffles (and one really big slice that I uncovered) rather than truffle oil, and dare I say, a little really does go a long way. 

I don't think I'll be adding tons of new restaurants at the same rate as I did this past weekend, but should I reach my 10 early, I might add a second round and see how far I get in the 1001 days.

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24. Use Crockpot 60 Times

On the snowy day we had at the end of last week, I pulled together a kitchen clean-up crockpot meal that turned out very nicely.  I used sirloin steak tips, local red creamer potatoes, onions, green beans and zucchini and made a fairly healthy Red Curry Beef Stew.  Look for the post at www.bklynforager.com later this week.  It was great for a cold snowy night and heated up very easily to feed us throughout the weekend.  

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Catching Up

I haven't been quite as good at actually posting the things I'm accomplishing here, but I did up my numbers for the new recipes and new blog posts that have come up.  Since I'd rather get caught up quickly than push things off even more for individual posts, I'm going to sum up some things of note.

Books

Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent

Back in January, my non-fiction book was Anthony Rapp's Without You.  He tells the story of his involvement with Rent from tiny theater workshop through giant Broadway show along with his own personal story during that time which includes relationship struggles and his mother's battle with cancer. 

Be forewarned: if books make you cry, like they do to me, you just may cry throughout most of the book.  Anthony Rapp has a very easy conversational style of writing which makes a reader (at least this one) get very wrapped up in the emotional roller coaster.  I felt extremely invested in his story and really had a hard time putting it down.  I spent one afternoon on the couch curled up with the dog and it was entirely worth it.


I also picked up The Whole World Over by Julia Glass.  It was a solid novel which dragged a bit too much for me in the beginning, but I was glad that I stuck through it to the end.  The story follows a handful of people living in lower Manhattan in the year before 9/11, following life along and learning a lot of the standard lessons along the way.  I had high hopes because two of the central characters are in close proximity to food - one a baker who follows a job out of town to be the personal chef for the governor of New Mexico and one a restaurant owner in New York City.  There wasn't quite as much food as this reader would have liked, but alas, that was not the purpose.  It was an interesting story weaving back and forth across a number of characters which I generally like.  Not off the charts, but not a waste of my time either.

Movies
I think we only got one DVD watched in the time since I last posted.  It was one of Austin's - Tropic Thunder.  This was good for a number of reasons - it is very hard to get him to watch his DVDs and so usually they sit and wait for months at a time.  Also, the movie wasn't terrible.  I liked what they were trying to do in general.  The sense of humor wasn't quite what I enjoy and there a number of gross scenes for the sake of being gross which I also don't appreciate, but I got it and didn't hate it.

Other
As a general wrap up, I have been working on my recipes, my blog posts and my fitness! I am four weeks through the nine week Couch-to-5K program which means I am doing more running than walking these days, although it's still on the light side.  I should be on target to complete it in the next five weeks (or maybe a bit longer depending on some intervening events) which is exciting.

Thats really it for now, but I hope to get more done in coming days and will post more regularly as I do.

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

My gut reaction is that this was the worst Harry Potter movie so far.  But it's not a bad film by any stretch of the imagination.  Of course I had the usual problems of the gaping holes of material not included from the books.  I also felt like this film was caught between Harry's adventure and an episode of Gossip Girl.  A poor episode of Gossip Girl, but still - all snogs.  I missed the magic and the intricate details.  Solid B. 

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Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: A Novel

Dai Sijie

This slim novel tells the tale of two teenage boys sent from the city to a Chinese mountain village to be re-educated by peasants in the time of Chairman Mao.  The boys embark on several adventures which lead them to the beautiful tailor's daughter known as the Little Seamstress and to a secret suitcase filled with Western novels.

Dai Sijie examines the dichotomous societies of this period in Chinese history, a village of workers who know nothing of books or music or learning but are revered by the government and the city boys, educated and interested but outcast for their father's deeds. Sijie looks at the love of knowledge and beauty and the insatiable thirst of a parched mind for more of everything. 

The story was too short, beautifully simple and very thought-provoking.  I haven't read a novel that inspired me to read more in a long time and this one certainly did. 

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When life gives you lemons...and oranges...

I have been given the gift of more free time these days which makes achieving some of these tasks a whole lot easier (and of course some a lot harder).  This week, I made my first solo attempt at jam - a Meyer lemon and Cara Cara orange marmalade for my canning project.  It almost feels like cheating because this task fulfills another blog post, a new recipe, the first of 12 canning challenges, jams from scratch (this fueled the fire so much that I'll be making a Raspberry Lime jam soon which will more completely fulfill "jams" and of course more jams to come in the canning project), and now I've blogged about it and am putting the cash in my special fund.  That's a whole lot of mileage out of one task, but it actually felt so great to set my mind to it and get it done.  So I'm going to just appreciate that I was successful and will go on to try more canning recipes. 

Of course, I never really liked marmalade, so the next challenge will be using it up, but I think it'll have a lot of good uses and I'll learn to like it!

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Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Sharp Objects follows a reporter back to her hometown to investigate the disappearance of a young girl and the murder of another.  These crimes stir up the small town as well as a tumultuous relationship between the reporter and her mother.  The mystery is well-crafted with more twists and turns than you might expect, most in the final third of the book which makes it exciting, but also means that it takes awhile for the rather slim novel to develop and for the mystery to percolate.  All in all, though, an interesting, if disturbing, read.

Sharp Objects: A Novel

Gillian Flynn

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The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz

The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City

David Lebovitz

David Lebovitz has compiled dozens of witty and insightful tales about his life adjusting to life as an American in Paris.  He reminds the reader often that his adjustment was eased along by his job as a patissier.  His love of food clearly informs his life in Paris and each anecdote is punctuated with lovely recipes that will definitely be incorporated into my new recipe challenge.  Some that I will be trying as soon as I can include the Bacon and Blue Cheese Bread, Oven-Roasted Figs, Chicken Mole, Chocolate-Coconut Marshmallows, Dulce de Leche Brownies and a Fromage Blanc Souffle, to name just a small selection.  It was a wonderful read and very inspiring and imaginative and fun.  I'll be dreaming and eating Paris for awhile after this book.

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