Reading goals. - goodbye 2020 - hello 2021!

 Today is the last day of 2020.   I have to say that I’m not sorry to see it leave.  Yuck.  It was a mixed reading year.   I discovered Audibles which I talked about earlier but I also struggled in the middle of the year to focus on reading anything more than a magazine article . I did have some pretty incredible reads!  ( not counting the Harry Potter books) I had 5 , 5 star reads!  

The World that We Knew-  Alice Hoffman.  She never lets me down.   This book is so good.   Probably my favorite of the year. 

The Dutch House- Ann Patchett-  so beautifully written.   I loved the characters 

Nothing to See Here-  totally wacky premise but you will not forget this book! 

Circe- Madeline Miller -  I loved this story!  I will say that i got super confused with all the characters but luckily the book has a list if each with the backstory.   That was necessary for me. 

Once Upon a River- Diane Setterfield -  listened to it with my sister in VA and it was good timing for a mystery/fairytale.

I did read several forgettable books.  Probably my biggest disappointed was The Starless Sea.  I know a lot of people LOVE this book but i just struggled with it.  Maybe it was the wrong time for me to read a book like this.   I'm going to blame it on 2020.  Still gave it 3 stars because it is beautiful but i really struggled with the story.  and I loved Night Circus so much that i really wanted to love this book.    

So many great books came out this year and i am so behind.  I missed my reading goal of 30 books.  I came in at 28 which isn't bad and I have 2 on my kindle right now that i'm almost done with.  Plus, like so many things in 2020, i'm giving grace to myself!!   I'm going to keep the goal of 30 books for 2021 .   I know I can hit it this time!!     
I'm doing some baking for New Years so I'll post some photos tomorrow!!  

I hope each of you (the 2 people who actually read occasionally) have a safe and healthy 2021 and that you read some amazing books surrounded by amazing friends and family- both physically and virtually!! 

Charlotte Holmes and Jamie Watson - Parmesan Shortbread

 I wrapped up the Charlotte Holmes series this year.  I read the first and second book last Christmas.  The last two this year.   I've always loved the Sherlock Holmes character and especially love the Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock!   In this series they are the descendants of the real life Holmes and Watson .  

Charlotte Holmes has a complicated past and a crazy family.  Jamie Watson a little less and of course he falls hard for Charlotte.  The books take a through some adventures and mysteries.   Jamie is charming and sweet.  Charlotte a little more intense and tougher to love.   But overall it works.  

Really enjoyed all 4 of the books.  Probably liked book 1 & 3 the best.   Easy reads and totally fun.  A few times it was pretty unbelievable but here again, wasn't most of Sherlock Holmes unbelievable.   Of course Jamie loves Charlotte the entire time.  Charlotte loves him too but it takes her longer to admit it to herself and to him.  In book 4 they are officially a couple and no longer fighting it.   

I would recommend if you enjoy Sherlock stories and are okay with suspending belief for bit.  Good characters and page turning adventure.   ⭐⭐⭐⭐ across the board.  

Also, just because shortbread feels very English, I'm attaching my Parmesan shortbread recipe.  It is so good!  It will have you acting like Sherlock to find the recipe!! 

1 Cup + 1 Tbs of butter 

2 cups all purpose flour 

1/2 tsp of salt 

2.5 cups of grated Parmesan 

1/2 tsp cayenne 

1 egg for egg wash 

Cut the butter into cubes.  Mix the flour, butter and salt in a large bowl using either your hands or a pastry cutter/dough blender.  Mix until a crumbly consistency.  add the Parmesan and mix again.  Add the Cayenne (I use a little less then a 1/2 tsp.  that cuts the heat a bit)   If the dough is too dry and won't stick together, add 2-4 tsp of water.   Knead the dough on the surface and roll into a square logn about 12 inches long.  I usually do 2 shorter logs.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for min of 1 hour.  

remove.  Cut into 3/4 inch pieces.  arrange on nonstick or on parchment paper.   Brush with egg wash and bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes or till golden brown.  Try not to eat them all in one sitting!  

Reading in 2020

 Not going to start off apologizing for not posting.  I do that all the time  The truth is that this year is tough!  I've had trouble focusing and getting stuff accomplished.  The pandemic has shifted everything and I have decided to give myself some grace.     So, Happy to see you!! 

This year I discovered the joy of listening to books.  Now, I've had Audibles for a couple of years , but, I typically used it for car time .  In  2020 I have no car time!  I'm not going anywhere so I was about to cancel my account when i decided to start listening to books when I walk.   THis work from home thing is tough because you sit in the same place everyday for 8+hours and never walk anywhere.   When i moved in May, I started walking every evening after work to try to get a little bit of exercise and to explore the new neighborhood.  It's been fun.   Then I decided to download some "Comfort Books".  I choose Harry Potter.   I read HP years ago when they came out.  Since then I've seen all of the movies multiple times.  But I thought it might be fun to listen to them.  After the first one, I was hooked all over again.   I had forgotten so much of the details that are left out of the movies.  And...  Jim Dale is a treasure!   He is so good.   Not sure what awards they give to folks who read books but he should win all of them!   They are not short books.   We are talking 15-22 hours of listening each.  But all summer i was doing about an hour a day.  And most of the time I'd get home and not want to stop listening and keep my ear buds in while making dinner.  I was completely captured by the stories again and Mr Dale just brings it all alive.   I made it through the first 5 over the summer May-August.  The last 2 took a bit longer.  I had a 5 week trip to VA and then the rain started.  But, I am happy to tell you that over the past 2 months I have wrapped up the last 2 books.   If you haven't listened to them, I highly recommend it.  Not going to recap the stories because I doubt there are many folks left who don't know the what happens.  This is comfort reading at it's best.  And it has now introduced me to the real joy of listening to books.   I have since listened to 3 others.  As long as I work from home, this might be the thing!  

Enjoy some photos of my new neighborhood.    

the Starless Sea

I really wanted to love this book.   The Night Circus was so great!   I read it years ago and it has stuck with me all these years.   It took me a while to read this book.   While it is beautifully written, I found it confusing.  I had no idea what was going on half of the time.   Here is what i figured out; 

    Zachary Rawlins  saw a door as a kid and has been searching for it since. This story spins into a mystery.  He finds a book which appears to be about his life.  He is tracking a  woman and a man and they fall into this mysteries world.   There are pirates and princesses and love and death.   

I really couldn't tell you what happens .  I kept reading because there are some nice side stories and the language is really like poetry.   So, I gave it 3 stars.   Confusing as heck but beautiful. 

Not sure what else to say on this.   I'd say read it but I wish you luck!! 

Summer 2020 - Circe and a Greek Salad

Sorry I've been gone.   My last post was in early March and at that time I thought the world had gone crazy.   But little did I know it had just started. 
Mom passed away at the end of March,  Sonny passed away mid April,  COVID19 spiked and the country locked down.   Then in June, we had political unrest and protest in the street because of continued violence and killing of black people in America.   And now here we are in July.   The virus seemed to be slowing down but recently it picked back up because people continue to be stupid and not wear mask.   Aghhhhhhh!   We are back to the start.  Headed towards a full lock down.

So, we've all been trying to adjust to the new normal.  Work from home will continue for the immediate future and we continue to figure out how to stay connected with each other.
My reading has not been great.  I really had a hard time at the beginning of the pandemic with focusing on anything.   I was spending way too much time on social media and watching the news.  I'm trying to balance that now and get back to some normal reading habits.
Couple of real positive things to happen,  I really got into audibles.  I have started walking at least 30 minutes a day and have been downloading books to listen to.  I started with Circe, which i'm reviewing here, and have now downloaded all of the Harry Potter Books.   Yes, i've already read them and have seen the movies multiple times.  But, I wanted something fun and comforting to listen to and i thought this would be fun   It has been!   I'm on book 3

So, let's talk about Circe!   I listened to the majority of this book on Audibles but I also had a copy so  at times read chapters before bed and used the glossary in the back to keep track of the characters. I loved this book.   One of my few 5 star ratings.  
This is the story of Circe, one of the minor gods in greek mythology.   She is banished to a deserted island to spend her life and she discovers her powers as a witch.   The story is just great.   She touches on so many greek myths including Medea,Odysseus, Icarus, and the Minotaur.   Not only was the story so interesting and so well told, but it made me want more.  I looked up the myths and started looking for other books.   Circe's story is just full of love and hate and doubt and strength.   5 stars for both the book and the audio version and the fabulous Perdita Weeks who narrates. 

I made myself a delightful Greek salad for the last chapter.    I hate olives so I left them out.  My choice!    I combined tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions , garbonzo beans and feta cheese .   I put 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar,  1/4 cup of olive oil, 1 clove of garlic, 2 teaspoon dijon mustard, some dried oregano and salt and pepper.  I shook it up in a small jelly jar and poured it over the salad.   So fresh and delicious.  

So, read the book and make the salad!   Enjoy and I'm back to posting and reading!! 

March Madness! Postcards and Beer Bread

the worlds gone crazy!  Yep.  It's happened.  My month has been crazy.  I went back east to visit my folks and help with some health issues and life changes.  While I was there the COVID 19 situation exploded.  By the time I got home, Seattle was closing down.  Like, really closing down.  We are working from home for 6 weeks, restaurants are closing, folks have cleaned out grocery stores and social distancing is the new thing.  I am trying to figure out the new normal and struggling a bit.  This weekend i'm hoping to build some routines.   Things I need to figure out

1. How to organize my work day so that i'm not sitting in the same place for 8 hours staring at a screen.  How do I move around a bit, take breaks, organize my work so i'm getting it all done, etc.  Plus organize my work area.  Right now it's the dinning room table but I think i need to set up an office since it's going to be a while.  
2. How do i get my steps in?  I usually log 8K-10K a day in steps just from the daily dog walks and running between meetings.  This week, 3K-4K.  Yikes.   I am going to plan a 30-60 minute walk a day.  Unfortunately Sonny isn't able to really do that but he can do some short burst.  I swear i want to get a dog stroller to help him!   
3. Eat on schedule.  This week I snacked all day!  sitting here in the dinning room had me grabbing food constantly and snacking. 

 That's a good start.
Not reading a ton right now.  I find when i'm really stressed that I have trouble focusing on a book.  But, I'm starting a new one this weekend so we'll see how it goes.
I have been doing some baking and cooking so that's something.

Bibliophile 

Since I don't have a book update, i want to give you a bookish update :)
I have this postcard project.  I send out postcards every weekend to about 30 different friends or family.  I try to do at least 8 every Saturday.  I can't tell you how many postcards I've collected over the past few years!  This started probably 5 years ago.  Started when my niece went off to college and then my favorite Aunt had a health crisis.  I started writing to both and then my list started to expand.
Today, I'm sharing some of my favorites that happen to be book postcards!!

Worlds greatest bookstores! 

The Snooty Bookshop 

Now for the food update, Thought I'd share my favorite beer bread recipe.  What I love about beer bread is that it is so easy and delicious.   You do need to like a slight taste of beer.
This is my go to recipe when i don't have a lot of time but want something comforting.  Enjoy

3 cups of all purpose flour
1 T garlic powder
3 T sugar (less if you don't want any sweetness)
1 T baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Mix together
add in cheese
1 cup shredded cheese- I go with a sharp cheddar

pour in a bottle (12 oz) of favorite beer
Mix together.
Pour into a greased 9 X 5 loaf pan.
Bake in 350 oven for 35-45 minutes or until knife comes out clean.
Pour 2 Tablespoon of melted butter over the top for a delicious addition!

Let cool  10 minutes and flip pan.  Enjoy!

The Dutch House! And a Dutch Baby Pancake

I'm really starting the year on a high note!    I've finished 5 books this year so far and 2 of them I gave 5 stars to.   Last year I only gave 5 stars to 2 books for the entire year. !  I'm hoping it is a sign of things to come and this year will be full of great books.
I finished up the Dutch house a couple of weeks ago.  I adore Ann Patchett <3  .   I read Bel Canto years ago, read Commonwealth in 2017 and read Truth and Beauty maybe 12 years ago.  All were so good that I couldn't wait for this new book.  It did not disappoint.
The Dutch House is the story of a brother and sister who grew up in the Dutch House.  Their mother left them because she could not stand the house and their father ends up marrying a terrible woman who is obsessed with the house.  The story is told by the brother and takes us through their life over the next 50 years.  The house has a hold on them.  Their step mother throws them out when their father dies and they are left to start over. They can't leave the house so they keep going back to it.   It is a story of the bond between the siblings and the baggage they carry because of their mother, the house and their father.  It is just wonderful.  I thought about Danny and Maeve long after reading the last page.  Not sure it ended the way I wanted it to but the ending was the right ending.    So good.  Go read it!  NOW!
So, I made a Dutch Baby pancake.  It just felt like the right thing and to be honest, I had never made a dutch baby before.  So easy and delicious.

that's a lot of butter!  

Dutch Baby pancake
I used my blender to combine the ingredients
- 2 cups of milk
-4 eggs
- teaspoon of Vanilla
1 1/3 cup of flour
4-5 Tablespoons of sugar (depends on how sweet you want it)
1 stick of butter

topping - lemon juice and powered sugar

Take a 9X13 baking dish and put the stick of butter in it.  Put it in the oven at 400 degrees

Combine other ingredients in a blender.  Take the pan out when the butter is bubbling and not burned.
Poor the batter into the baking dish and cook for about 20-25 minutes.  You want the middle set.
I put lemon juice and powdered sugar on it but you could do strawberry's or blueberry's or even syrup.
nice eggy pancake!

the finished product! 

The World that We Knew- Alice Hoffman . Kugel, Potato and Vegetable

I adore Alice Hoffman!  I had read 13 books by her and just finished number 14.  The World that We Knew is so wonderful and that I  read it in 3 days.  Once I started it was hard to put down.  I love the magical realism she weaves in the books and in this case it was a "Golem" , a mystical Jewish creature.   The store is told from the view point of the major characters- Lea , the young girl whose mother sends off to France to save her from the Nazi's.  Ava, the golem created to save Lea.   A creature made of clay with no soul but starts to feel love and sadness.  And finally Ettie, the Rabbi's daughter who creates the golem and is then on the run .  She joins the French resistance and waits to become a fighter.   The book is sad and lovely and wonderful.  Of course there are tough parts because this is a WW2 book and you know there will be lots of death.  But the Golem adds such an interesting twist as she starts to become more human and develops  a wonderful  connection with a Heron.   There are so many other memorable characters that you want to know about each of them.   Loved this book so much.  I gave it 5 stars!  ★★★★★

I have always had a great love for the Jewish religion and culture.  (Some of you might know my story of pretending to be Jewish in high school)  I think it started with reading the All of a Kind Family series as a child.   It is a series about 5 girls growing up in NYC at the turn of the century.  They are Jewish and you learn about their holiday's and over the course of 5 books you watch them grow up and love them.   I highly recommend these books to anyone with a young person in your life and even if you don't, I think adults will enjoy them.

I decided to make Kugel in honor of the book.  I actually made 2 kinds of Kugel.  One is a Cheesy Potato Kugel.  It turned out pretty good!   I posting the link to the recipe below.  Next time I would change 2 things-  Less garlic  and more cheese.  Besides that it was good.
I also made a Vegetable Kugel with Caramelized Leeks.  This one was good but I didn't love it.  It has leeks, sweet potato and zucchini.   I liked it but once again I thought it had too much garlic in it.  I also just didn't find it super flavorful.   I couldn't find Matzo Meal in the store so just used bread crumbs.   I think I would double the bread crumbs and cut the garlic. 
Both recipes are below. 
I had planned to make Chocolate Babka but I didn't realize that it needed to rise overnight and I waited to start mid-day.   I think that will have to wait for another day!

Cheesy Potato Kugel

Vegetable Kugel

Social media and Books!

Lot's of cool stuff happening in the world of Social Media.
I follow about 50 different book Instagram pages.  Some have blogs attached and some don't.
But 2 of them are doing a theme of #fedbybooks .   Share a food memoir, post about a cookbook, share food you've made inspired by a novel or any variation you can think of with books and food.  That is right up my alley!  Of course there are giveaways but I'm just excited to see what folks post.
The 2 instagramers are  @thebookishcookier  and @because.my.mother.read   Both great instagramers . 
the @ardentbiblio is featuring a different country each month and challenging folks to read books translated from that country.  January was Japan and February is France.  I didn't participate in January but looking to pick up something for February.
And finally, I have my Very Hungry Reader Instagram account.  called @Veryhungryreader   .  I'm committed to posting more now that I've gone public with friends and family that this exist so stay tuned!     Woohoo!  8 followers and I only know one of them :)  

Little Women !

Little Women is one of my favorite childhood books!  I read it multiple times as a young adult and watched every movie version that came out.  I think as a child i had never read a book that had a character named Beth.  I thought it was me but to tell you the truth I'm nothing like Beth (except my love of animals )   We all want to be Jo.  Daring and brave and taking on the world.  So, i went forward convinced I was a Jo but the heart of a Beth <3
Folks always ask about my favorite movie version.  Well, The Katherine version in 1933 is great because of her.  She is perfect as Jo.  The 1949 version is also great because Margaret O'brien is so great as Beth and Elizabeth Taylor is the best Amy.  Then you have the 1978 version with Susan Dey and Eve Plumb.   (William Shatner plays Prof Bhaer!).  that version was fun at the time because it had all of the 70;s superstars in it.  So fun.     There was a great version on Masterpiece Theater  in 2018 that played as a mini series.   And finally there is the 1994 version with Winona Ryder which is the one I've seen the most and probably my favorite.
But, now we have the new Greta Gerwig movie.  So good!  It feels fresh and different from the other versions.  I loved it.   Saoirse Ronan is fantastic.  Emma Watson is also really wonderful.  I didn't love the actor who played  Laurie, Timothee Chalamet, but I didn't hate him either.     This one could be in the running for my new favorite.     I think I need to see it again just to confirm :)

So, in the spirit of of the movie, I picked up a new book called Meg & Jo by Virginia Kantra.  It is s fun modern retelling of the story but focuses just on the 2 older sisters.  (I hear the 2nd volume , Beth and Amy comes out next year)   In this version, Jo is a blog writer working in a restaurant.  She falls in love with the chef but of course there is trouble.  Meg is married with twins and struggling to be a good mom and take care of her family.
I liked the restaurant part and the focus on food.  I liked that Marmee is a strong woman and the dad is a bit of a loser.  I was glad the Laurie character was there but didn't take up too much of the story since we all know she isn't going to end up with him.   I didn't like the tension between Jo and Amy.  In the original book, while they fight, at the end of the day, they are sisters and love each other.  Wasn't sure i felt that the same in this version.   I enjoyed the comfort of the familiar but the modern twist.  It's a fast read and i'll pick up the 2nd one when it comes out! 

4 stars for the fun premise and characters.

I made an omelet to finish the last chapter.  There is a scene where the chef cooks eggs for her so it seemed the right thing.  I've never been great at omelets.  They always become scrambled eggs.  But this one turned out pretty good.  I cooked up  some mushrooms and onions and added some fresh tomatoes.
yummy breakfast and a fun book.  Best kind of Saturday! 

EW RANKS THE MOVIE VERSIONS

PBS ranks the versions of Little women

Which March sister are you?

New year- 2020

So, a new year has begun!  I didn’t have a great reading year.  I usually read 24-30 books a year.  My goal was 30 but alas, I only read 17.  Not sure what happened here but I just got a little stuck.  I couldn’t seem to get into every book I started.  I think I have 5 or 6 started and not finished.  I’m going to set a target of 30 again and see what happens. 2020 is a new book beginning!