Merry Christmas (& we’re back!)

Greetings all,

Rather than the obligatory “I got burned out on my blog for a bit” in so many words post…. I’ll leave you with this in time for the holidays.

I was just listening to some Christmas music, and the final lyrics of “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” struck me as perfect…

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep
God is not dead, nor does He sleep
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, goodwill to men

So, Merry Christmas!

And also, I’m looking forward to more posts in the New Year and hoping you are too.

2013 Reads

I have tried on at least two occasions to keep a “book log”, or reading journal, or really any sort of record of the books I have read in a year, but I always taper off after a few books / weeks. Since I enjoy blogging about books I have read, I think I’ll try my hand at a book log here, and I’ll update this post as I read more books. Also, it might serve as a quick way to know what books I would recommend, if you decided to ask me.

Ideally I will link the below titles to their corresponding post on the blog. Of course, this means I have to blog about all, or almost all of the books I read, but that wouldn’t be a bad thing.

So to start –

January

Sweet Tooth, Ian McEwan – Recommend. 

More of a character piece than a plot piece, but those might be my favorite. I really liked the heroine, Serena, and for McEwan fans, I would say this is nowhere near as dark as Atonement.

Winter of the Worlds, Ken Follett – Recommend, but read Book One first.

Because it is part of “The Century Trilogy”, the who/what major historical event / where is a bit contrived, but it’s worth it. It’s a wonderfully intricate character web, if you will.

Grace: A Memoir, Grace Coddington – Indifferent on the reco.

As I wrote in my post on this book – it was interesting, and I learned from it, but as far as memoirs go, it was lacking the and this made my life feel ____, or XYZ happened and I was never the same. It was more of a play-by-play than my favorite memoirs – but if you love fashion (check) and pretend to know things about photography (check), you should read it. It won’t take too long.

February

Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Book Store, Robin Sloan – Recommend Passively.

Book club book that surprised me by its current-ness. More mentions of Google, Twitter, different generations of Macs than most fiction (that I read), but it was good storyline and a quick read. Perfect for a 3 hour flight.  Apparently, the hardback cover glows, but I read it on my Kindle, so I had no idea!

The Paris Wife, Paula McLain – Wouldn’t really recommend…

Also, a Book Club select, and it was a fiction book that teetered on non-fiction with the thoroughly researched dialogue. The most interesting part of the book – learning about the trip and obsession with Spain that inspired The Sun Also Rises. Mostly, The Paris Wife, made me want to read more Hemingway (not necessarily more Paula McClain).

March

Salt Sugar Fat, Michael Moss – RECOMMEND! 

Salt Sugar Fat is a fascinating nonfiction book I have forced onto almost everyone I know… but the book tells the story of the evolution of the packaged food industry. Written by a former investigative reporter, you can count on lots of facts, substantiation, details… definitely worth reading.

A Song of Fire and Ice, George R. R. Martin – Recommend 

Finished! Finally! I won’t say anything until the TV season wraps – but you should read it. In order.

I know I normally just post the cover of the book, but I found this picture of George RR and thought it was worth posting. He’s so Gandolf/Dumbledore/Peter Jackson-esque, I had to post it.

March

The Imperfectionists, Tom Rachman – Recommend

#bizandrob

This weekend were lucky enough to be able to celebrate two of our dearest friends Biz and Rob in Atlanta.

The whole weekend was filled with joy and excitement (love this sneaky pic)…

 

Amazing views and good friends.

 

I actually read scripture in their wedding, and it says better than I can what it means to love with the way you live, not just what you say…

We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us. – 1 John 3:16-24

We wish you two lived in New York with us… but more than that, we wish you the best as you start your lives together!

Lauren Dombrowiak: Domestic Edifice

When I flew home for Memorial Day, I had a pretty extensive layover in the Philadelphia airport, so I walked it. End-to-end. Through the “hall of international arrivals” and by The Supremes art exhibit.

I also discovered this gem by Lauren Dombrowiak, a ceramic artist.

 

I love the use of domestic and lovely items such as cups and saucers to create towering edifices and art. I am also a sucker for China – and love the gold rimmed saucers… which are artful enough on their own.

And while I am no art expert, to me this is about taking something with an expected function and turning it into something much more. Perhaps a more refined version of “when life gives you lemons”. Either way, it says something about triumph and creativity. And I really like it.

Shrimp Still Life

Sometimes I look down and dinner has turned into some perfectly delectable still life.

I mean, it doesn’t happen often. But when it does, snap snap before the subject disappears!

MDW 2K13

As the rain was falling here in NYC, I made a pretty last minute call to head to NC for warmer weather, fried chicken, family….. and puppies. That’s right, my parents have not one, but two puppies. Miniature Australian shepherds. Yes, they “make those”.

Meet Indy (for Indiana Jones, obviously) and Percy (L to R)-

My mom even made my favorite-generally-reserved-for-Christmas-morning cheese souffle. Yes.

It was a wonderful break from the hullabaloo that endears me to the city in the first place, but this is an example of what happiness looks like:

 

“The Paris Wife”

My book club recently read, “The Paris Wife” and very exactly as predicted in the prologue,

“I don’t want to say, Keep watch for the girl who will come along and ruin everything, but she’s coming anyway, set on her course in a gorgeous chipmunk coat and fine shoes, her sleek brown hair bobbed so close to her well-made head she’ll seem like a pretty otter in my kitchen.”

And so she was right – the story is of Ernest Hemingway’s first wife. First of four, so of course, they didn’t live happily ever after. Each page you feel it coming but you try to forget it and root for them anyway.

All in all, I would say the book is a pretty good read… but it is hard to put aside the fact that you know on page one that it doesn’t end well. The actual ending for Hadley is actually a bit gratifying, but with so many books out there… I don’t think I would recommend picking this one up… there are just too many great ones out there!

What did you think? Did you love it even though you knew the ending?

Happy Anniversary!

On Cinco de Mayo, Hewitt and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary – I meant to get these pictures up sooner, but in the same way the last year has flown by, the last week or so has too. So I’m a bit late – but at least we celebrated on time even if I recap  later. We were lucky enough to head to Puerto Rico for a quick weekend getaway… and goodness, was the view perfect.

Check this out –

And also, my most successful use of the panoramic feature on my camera yet:

Smiley and a wee bit sunburned!

And sad to be heading back to the city so soon, but grateful for a few nights away filled with sunshine.

In true travel to and from NYC fashion – our flight on Sunday was delayed, so we had a decadent and romantic meal in the San Juan airport. And since our frozen wedding cake is in a freezer in North Carolina, I improvised with some Molly’s Cupcakes. Which I recommend if you’re in the neighborhood!

(The “Cookie Monster” was my favorite flavor.)

Here’s to many more years together – pretty pumped to take on the world together.

The Kindle

For Christmas, Hewitt gave me a Kindle in my grab bag / Happy Birthday bag of gifts. And I love my Kindle, but sometimes I’m conflicted about it.

I love books, so for a long time, I didn’t even want a Kindle. I actually never even asked for it. But when my carry on is weighed down by approximately three 800 page books before our honeymoon… I think Hewitt knew my book habits did not make for sustainable travel.

Kindle Pros

It is light. It is small and easy to travel with. (These are obvious benefits.)

I think I might actually read faster on it for some reason – this is unsubstantiated because I don’t know how I would justify this claim, but it seems the pages melt away more quickly.

I can read the Kindle on the treadmill. I’ve always tried to flip through a book or magazine on the elliptical, but only the Kindle allows you to increase the font size so it’s legible while actually running, and it doesn’t require any form of book holder/page holding down device. It lays flat.

The books costs a bit less.

I feel pretty appropriate reading The New Digital Age on it.

It prevents me from filling our apartment to the brim with books.

Kindle Cons

It isn’t a real, traditional book.

I would remember when a character was introduced or an event occurred based on the thickness / page number. I could refer back to passages or confusing sections as needed pretty easily. I haven’t figured out how to do this with the Kindle. The highlighting feature would only work if I knew in advance that I would want to remember something later… and this isn’t always the case!

It prevents me from filling our apartment to the brim with books.

Overall– I love having a Kindle. It was a great gift I could probably have never managed to bring myself to ask for or buy on principle. But I love having it.

And when we have a bigger apartment or home, I’ll probably have to buy some of the e-books I’ve been reading to fill the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves I’m dreaming of…

Chicken Parm Baked Quinoa…with a kick!

A few weeks ago I made this chicken parm baked quinoa… and it was delish +  seemingly healthy.

I decided to dial up the spicy kick a bit and ordered “fire roasted” tomatoes with green chiles (not a great photo!) instead of just plain diced tomatoes.

I also added extra cracked red pepper and some diced jalapeno into the tomato sauce before mixing…

Those were my minor changes/additions to the recipe, and you can check out the original recipe here: Baked Quinoa Chicken Parmesan.

And it came out of the oven wonderfully!

I served it with a light spinach salad with olive oil and salt+pepper, and it was great. We loved the jalapeno and green chiles in the diced tomatoes – Hewitt loves spicy food, and I have learned to like it a lot more than I used to. It’s just a nice change to a typical chicken and tomato sauce dish.