It's the most expensive comment thread of the site, when I ask what you're reading, and how you like it, and then I buy about 3/4ths of the things you suggest.
(Please tell me I'm not alone in that problem, please.)
I'm reading a mix of holiday titles, and am trying not to allow myself to read the Tessa Dare historical that isn't out until February, but I have a feeling I'm going to cave and read it early.
What about you? Have you started any holiday themed books? What are you reading this weekend? How do you like it? Anything you recommend?
DonnaMarie suggested in the comments of one of the deals post that I enquire as to what you're cooking, too. YES PLEASE FOOD! I've been posting cookbooks on sale recently because I love digital cookbooks. Have you tried any recipes? What are you cooking right now?
Me, it's my cooking season. I'm making things to freeze, like cassoulet, lentil soup, bolognese sauce, and white bean soup with tomatoes, and I'm baking a lot of bread. (I use our old breadmaker – going on 14 years old – to make the dough, then pat it out, roll it, and bake it in the oven. YUM.)
So, how about you? Reading? Cooking? Both?
(Wait – let me go put my wallet in the freezer beneath something frosty and mysterious.)
OK, go!
@Connie, I love Amy Tan’s idea. I’ve hoped for jury dauty, and look forward to long plane trips for the same reason.
Have to mention the cookbook first, because I tell everyone I know about how amazing this cookbook is.
Americas Test Kitchen Family Cookbook –
Link : Americas Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
Holy amazeballs – This book has great recipes, good tips on technique as well as reviews of cooking brands. I’ve had this cookbook for over 5 years and every recipe I’ve made is both easy to follow, delicious, and foolproof.
For those of you who watch PBS, I cannot recommend Americas Test Kitchen (the show) enough for the same reasons.
I’m on a Sara Gruen kick. She wrote WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, but I actually found her through a couple of horsey books, RIDING LESSONS and a sequel. The reviews for these horse books are not nearly as positive as for her more famous book, but I loved them. Now I’m reading WATER FOR ELEPHANTS.
As for cooking, meh, I ordered pizza. It’s my son’s birthday and he has friends over. But I did bake a fudge cake. The icing is literally a modified fudge which goes onto the cake in a semi-liquid state and solidifies.
I’m just about to finish up Elysian Fields, by Suzanne Johnson. It’s the 3rd in a series about a Green Wizard, who is Sentinal for New Orleans, tasked with monitoring the super- and paranatural population and controlling the established borders between our world and the Beyond. This population has exploded in numbers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. (The hurricane damaged and/or destroyed established borders, just as it did to the physical barriers.)
I’ve really enjoyed the series, thus far, but if one more male, be he supernatural, were, shifter, or elf, falls all over themselves for the heroine, I think I might scream. The fact that she’s constantly flubbing something magical, stumbling into the bad guy without realizing it until too late, and getting beat up all work to save her from being a Mary Sue but enough with the “you’re so gorgeous, I must have you” already. Other than that, though, the mysteries have been pretty good and the action is well-written. I like the world-building quite a bit, too.
As for what I’m cooking, I made a Mediterranean pasta salad with Kalamata olives, cherry tomatoes, finely diced onion, olive oil and white wine vinegar, and feta cheese.
I have three exams over the next three days so I’m reading slides from lectures and the end of my textbooks.
But after the 25th (the day of my final exam) I can finally unwrap my copy of Kinked by Thea Harrison and Archangel’s legion by Nalini Singh, then I get to start Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassin books after that.
I had to seal them up in a bag so I wouldn’t be tempted to just take them out, because then it would be a case of “I’ll read just one chapter” and we all know what happens then.
Reading Passion from the Vine by Shannon Casey and trying to make a stir fry but my body is frying instead because of the sizzling sex scene . I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys erotic romances as its one of the best of read! The scene in the wine cellar makes me want to find a winery and a hot man and press replay!!!
Somehow I doubt that what I’m reading will be of any interest. But well, I’m reading Of Marriageable Age by Sharon Maas, Ida’s Story by Steven Segall, Chasing Hepburne by Gus Lee, Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu and ‘Till Morning Comes by Han Suyin. As mentioned, I doubt the books I’m reading will be of interest to anyone.
I just finished a Grace Burrowes, Darius, which could have been awesome but was not, and I’m in the middle of Bitter Lemons of Cyprus, which is good but probably only of interest if you like memoirs (I don’t) or are in Cyprus (I am). Next up a Morsi about a librarian. I am irresistible attracted to librarian stories, although they often disappoint. Because I am immune to learning from my own (or anyone else’s) experience, I am really looking forward to it.
I have elected to go to Turkey rather than cook one this year. All I cook these days is the occasional cup of tea in a hotel room. But if anyone is looking for a good cookbook to read, Marcella Hazan sadly died recently, and her cookbooks are pure pleasure.
I just finished reading Charming, by Elliot James, and found it to be a solid entry into the urban fantasy market.
I’m cooking up a storm because this is the best time of year for Florida vegetables. Friday night I made kale vegetable soup, and roasted a chicken atop a bed of root vegetables—sweet potatoes, turnips, onions, plus peppers and mushrooms. Everything but the chicken came from the farmers market, and it was delicious! I’m looking forward to leftovers tonight, and froze a lot of the soup for later this winter.
Mmmm, kale. I recently saw this video on how to make kale chips in the microwave, and it looks so easy, I’m definitely going to try it. http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/super-quick-video-tips/2013/10/how-to-make-kale-chips-in-the-microwave-video/
KKW- Nooooooo! DON’T READ THE MORSI! Unless you like books passed off as happy, cute librarian romances by the cover, but in reality are deeply depressing and FULL of negative themes. I read it and regretted it. That book is MORBID. Is all I’m saying. Ahem… I’m reading “I Capture The Castle” by Dodie Smith. Cooking? Is when I press the start button on the microwave.
I’m also whittling down a stack of library books – “The Song of Achilles”, “Voces Sin Fronteras”, “Secrets of a Wedding Night” by Valerie Bowman, “The Shadow of the Wind”, and biographies on Malcolm X and Oscar Wilde.
Well, I just finished Code Name Verity, and while it was excellent, it’s a book that requires you to follow it up with something that has rainbows and puppies and good vibes. So I started Orange Is the New Black! Huh, I’m really bad at puppies and rainbows. As for cooking, I downloaded that 365 Days of Slow Cooking and hope to bust it out this week. I have to find a recipe that won’t make my special kind of picky spouse whiney.
@kkw: I agree with Heather S……pass on the Morsi book…….just awful! Misleading in regards to a story about a librarian in love.
@Emily: I’ll try, the timing is hard…I’m on the west coast.
@Darlynne: I couldn’t finish The Chocolate Thief for all the reasons you mentioned in your comment. Plus!!!! I really hated her name. Cade???? And well….she was so obnoxious!
My neighbor made almond, chocolate and plain croissants and brought over a mixed dozen. So yummy. She learned in Paris. I wish I could do pastry. I try but it’s always a bust. Cookies. Yes. Pie. Yes. I’m also bad with cakes, especially the ones with butter creme frosting. It’s a disaster!
I am re-reading the third book in Julie James’s US Attorney/FBI series, and I love it. Kyle is one of my favorite romance heroes. When I’m done, I think I’m going to read the newest Castle novel. You have no idea how much i love that show and the books are so fun.
My grandmother and I both have birthdays this week (mine is Friday and hers is Saturday), so my mom is making chicken parm for our joint celebration. Then, on Thanksgiving, she will be making a lasagna to go with my grandmother’s turkey.
Just finished The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie, having seen some recs here in another thread. Before that, it was Gail Carriger’s Curtsies & Conspiracies and, earlier still, Andrews’ Magic Rises and Resnick’s Misfortune Cookie. They were lots of fun and a fit reward for virtue. I had to finish a bunch of mysteries & such from the library before tackling those three so I wouldn’t go broke paying fines. Most were enjoyable, but I couldn’t finish Codex Born, no matter how hard I tried to like it.
Needless to say, I have very little time for cooking….
I’ve been reading and cooking a ton this week!
Tamara Morgan’s novella In The Clear was great; Sarah Morgan’s Sold to the Enemy was meh, but I’m not so much for the Greek billionaires and their virgins; Cara McKenna’s Ruin Me had me questioning how it would end the whole time and her Willing Victim about a boxer was fantastic (but also consensually violent, so read the warnings first!).
Before noon yesterday, I had baked a batch of oatmeal cookies, a batch of peanut butter, and had the pumpkin cheesecake in the oven. I also hit the grocery store to stock up on supplies to make boozy jams as Christmas gifts this year. Peach and bourbon, plum and gin…we’ll see what else I can concoct.
@Darlynne – I didn’t like The Chocolate Thief for the same reasons you list. I loved the next two books, so I’m very glad I read it after I read Magalie and Philippe’s story, The Chocolate Kiss, otherwise I wouldn’t have stuck with the series.
I feel so inadequate. I’m reading an older Sarah MacLean, 11 Steps to… and enjoying it though I’ve only been able to read in dribs and drabs and that always makes a book suffer.
As for cooking, here is where I feel inadequate. I rarely cook. Sometimes I do ok and others not so much. But mainly I don’t cook much because both my FIL who is retired and my husband who is unemployed are both good cooks and are at home all day while I work so I thankfully don’t have to come home and cook every night.
I may have to get a bread book and see if I can find some of the recipes above because after reading the posts above I’m hungry and I already ate dinner!
I’m getting caught up on favorites authors I neglected to read when the pre-orders arrived over the summer. Last night it was Lauren Willig’s The Passion of the Purple Plumeria.
There has been a lot of cooking from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, this year. I don’t know if there is a digital version, but I use her blog a just as much if not more.
Just at the moment I am not so much reading anything as I am obsessing over hockey (it’s A Thing for so many many reasons but mostly my kids & my husband). And I’m trying to do something handmade for each of my kids for Christmas this year, but I’m not really *good* at that kind of thing so I have to really concentrate on it (and I don’t do audiobooks for a variety of reasons) so… A fair bit of rereading at brief intervals—right now it’s Katey Hawthorne, last week it was Heidi Cullinan, who knows what next week will bring.
As for cooking, it’s soup. Lots of soup. Yummy soup. I have a whole cookbook of soup, and I’m slowly working my way through it. Also homemade bread, and I have a freezer full of pumpkin, so I’m trying to bake my way through that, too…