Library Haul

Can't believe my haul from the library

I don't know where I'm going to find the time to read all these...or even to flip through them

I am going to have to remember to hit the "suspend" button after putting them on reserve so that I can actually get the books in a timely fashion...As in "not all at once"

I think I've has this one before...can't remember.  My daughter requested that I put it on reserve.  Prob cause she just started reading the blog maybe or else she spotted something on pinterest.  So I'll look through it again.

This one was on "best of 2013" list somewhere.  

October 1916

  I was dreaming of food.  Crisp baquettes, the flesh of the bread a virginal white, still steaming from the oven, and ripe cheese, its borders creeping toward the edge of the plate.  Grapes and plums, stacked high in bowls, dusky and fragrant, their scent filling the air.  i was about to reach out and take one, when my sister stopped me. "Get off", I murmured.  "I'm hungry"

"Sophie.  Wake up".

I'm kinda hungry too.  My dinner is in the oven as I peck away at this.  The stew smells wonderful.  Perfect for this crappy....snowing yet again....day.  Blizzard it could be said. There will be some major flooding come spring.  All the extremes in weather around here lately.....It's prob only going to get worse.  Didn't I hear, or read, or something that the atmosphere is reacting to crap put into it in the 80's....Soooooo it's frightening to think of what's to come.

This must have been on a "best of list" for 2013...or else the author has a series, and hopefully this is the first one.  I really don't know why I have this book.  

Waking is like rising from the dead.  The slow climb out of sleep, shapes appearing out of blackness, the alarm clock ringing like the last trump.  Rush flings out an arm and sends the alarm crashing to the floor, where it carries on ringing reproachfully.  Groaning, she levers herself upright and pulls up the bling.  Still dark, It's just not right, she tells herself, wincing as her feet rough the cold floorboards.  Neolithic man would have gone to sleep when the sun set and woken when it rose.  What makes us think this is the right way round?  Falling asleep on the sofa during Newsnight, then dragging herself upstairs to lie sleepless over an Inspector Rebus book, listen to the World Service on the radio, count Iron Age burial sites to make herself sleep and now this:  waking in the darkness felling like death.  It just wasn't right somehow.

OMG...talk about over writing.  Sheesh...I don't know about this one.  

I've been looking forward to this one.   I worked in the container business...way...back...when.  This book has the subject matter that will probably piss me off.  

I got this one last week...and only just managed to get half way through it.  Instead I found countless books and authors to add to my already HUGE list of books to read.  I should get back to it before I becomes overdue

Another one that I don't know why was on the shelf with my name on it.  

But any cookbook is worth at least a looksee

I spotted this in the bookstore and ordered it at the library....Natch

I've been reading the blog off and on so thought I should read the book

I opened it randomly and came upon this

BBQ'd ginger ale pork ribs

Hmmm...don't know that I actually need a recipe for this but next time ribs make it home from the market this recipe might just be attempted.  Though Laura Calder's recipe for marmalade ribs will be hard to compete with.

 

This one sounded good.  I wonder how many other books she has already written.  Seems like it's an author to keep track of.  I always like a wierd story.

There is something in the northern Maine air that speaks of the first snowfall hours before it arrives.  This is the same knowledge that birds find in those minutes before the quake.  Snow has a way of talking, if you know how to listen.  Billy Thunder, who was from downstate and therefore an outsider, heard it first that autumn.

...Alittle wordy. I hope this isn't 1/3 overwritten and subject to skipping over.  I really hate books like that.

I've had this one for awhile ...it must be close to being overdue.  I should read it soon.  I really hate paying fines

Another one I should have already at least opened.  Another one that I'll be paying fines on no doubt.

This is anooooother one that should be read first.  

\

Shit...yet another one has to be read pretty quickly before overdues set in

    

First one in a series I hope

Miss Jane Neal met her maker in the early morning mist of Thanksgiving Sunday.  It was pretty much a surprise all round.  Miss Neal's was not a natural death, unless you.re of the belief everything happens as it's supposed to.  If so, for her seventy-six years Jane Neal had been walking toward this final moment when death met her in the brilliant maple woods on the verge of the village of Three Pines.  She'd fallen spread-eagled, as though making angels in the bright and brittle leaves

Another one set in Maine.

What's so special about Maine anyway? 

"Don't move, it's not safe!"

I heard someone yell, but it was too late.  The wooden planks of the dock sagged beneath me and then gave way.  Boards splintered, rotted lunber snapped, and I plunged ten feet into the frigid Maine ocean."

This one doesn't really look promising after flipping through it.  But we'll see

Think I should have taken this one back already.  Don't know why it's still here.  Mehhh

This is self explanitory.  

I've been waiting for another Fannie Flagg.  What's she been doing all this time anyway.

Looks like a fast read.   Maybe I should start with this one

I just know this one will piss me off.  I'm already angry and the food Industry.  No telling how mad I'll be after reading this

Funny ha ha

I've been reading 

I've been at it a few days
cause I have discovered, one must read this book in small doses.
I've managed to also read
this

between chapters of sedaris and this 

although just to let you know LYNN.,...maybe a little bit more story behind the recipe, with the recipe, instead of the recipe, etc would be welcome.  I like to actually READ a cookbook, not just flip though it...ya know...otherwise its just a cookbook

and then there was the soup sisters

That's probably why I have stock making on my brain these days.  And my freezer bags of veg scraps and bones are getting full.  So it's almost time to start up the crock pot to give this whole mess a go.  I've never used scraps for a stock before, preferring to use fresh veg.  But i've made an attempt to only use scraps from organic produce.


But ultimately I always got back to david

How have I lived this long and never read a book by david sedaris?  I can't believe it, cause now I'm going to have to reserve the entire history of his writing.

I never laughed so hard ....well for awhile anyway - can't remember when I read something that I was scoping out who I was near to so that I could read passages of paragraphs to just to entertain those around me.

Unfortunately for my husband he was usually the one nearest me.  So between football, hockey and some stupid wildlife chanel on TV he got to be entertaiined by Sedaris also.  He particularly enjoyed the chapter on colonoscopies.

There was one chapter that grossed me out completely.  Unfortunatly for me I just threw dinner into the oven one evening and started reading the chapter on his visit to China.  And ALLLLLL that entailed.  Needless to say I couldn't eat dinner.  Had trouble picking through the salad.  Thanks alot david.  You should have put a warning before the chapter to not read if about to eat dinner.

The last time I enjoyed a read so much like this....as in looking around to find someone to read passages from the book to.  Cause everyone should be entertained as I am.
There are times when the unfortunate husband (or sometimes anyone who just happens to walk by) has to actually read the passage themselves cause I'm laughing to hard to actually get the words out.

The last time I had my hands on a book this funny I remember I was in a car (the passanger) and I would suddenly start reading passages to the other unfortunate people in the car...my husband and my teenagers.
Let's just say....they had no sense of humour.  I bought the book, my sister got it....my mother wanted to know what was so funny so she read it.  And that's the last time I saw it.

Bill Richardson...you really must get to writing another book.  It's been far toooooo long.

Gay Men....
...what a riot

Buttermilk Chicken

I heard about this chicken on a morning radio show on CBC during delivering the g'kids to school on Tuesday morning.  Seeing as how I had a chicken in the freezer and half a container of buttermilk in the fridge ...why not?

So I googled the recipe and read a couple blogs that endorsed the method and the original posting of Jamie Oliver.

http://www.thekitchn.com/jamie-oliver-chicken-in-milk-best-chicken-recipe-all-time-80388
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/chicken-in-milk
http://localkitchenblog.com/2011/02/03/jamie-olivers-chicken-in-buttermilk/

I was torn - add potatoes to the bottom of the chicken or not?

Eventually I loaded them on the bottom and after browning the chicken, placed it on top.  First I stuffed the cavity with half a lemon, couple garlic cloves in skins some sage leaves, and of coarse some salt and pepper first.

I had 3/4 cup of buttermilk and added another 3/4 cup milk, nuked it before pouring over the chicken.  Then sprinkled the lemon zest and lemon juice over the chicken and the sage.

After looking at the bulge that prevented the lid from going on I decided to fish out the potatoe halves ( alittle difficult since everything was hot and ready to get in the oven) and the garlic floating around under the chicken and instead crammed them betweeen the chicken and the sides of the pot.  Put the lid on and threw it in the oven at 3:30.

The house did smell good, and around 4:20 I opened the oven, removed the lid and poked the potatoes.  Off loaded them into a casserole of their own because they were about to be overdone and I couldn't get at the liquid to baste.

I basted a few times after that and also removed the lid at this time also.

Prepped some Ceasar Salad

At five I garlic buttered up baquette slices and sliced up some carrots.  The carrots went on the stove with some butter and spices and the chicken came out of the oven, replaced with the bread on a sheet pan (butter side down)

While the carrots and bread were getting their treatment, I took the chicken apart and fished out the garlic. The pot was put on a slow boil to reduce the liquid.  The chicken was plattered and the liquid juices were poured over the platter and covered with a tent of foil.

Table was set and everyone was hungary

AFter all the hoopla...."its the best chicken I've ever tasted"  from the blogs that I read I was expecting a wonder.  I have made some very good roasted chicken in the magic pot.  I mean how many different ways are there to make a chicken that are no brainers.  I mean a chicken, some garlic, a lemon or two, and spice mixtures galore to sprinkle under the skin and into the cavity.  Then throw it in the oven to roast.  How difficult is that.  It's vertually impossible to screw this up if one has a cast iron ceramic pot.  Even if you don't have a magic pot.  It might not be as succulent in a regular pot, but still ....a no brainer.

After I threw the thing in the oven I poured myself a drink

I know..I know - how pathetic.
There was vodka in the freezer, but no clamato juice in the fridge or pantry.  What to do....what to do...
The only potential mix was this raspberry lemonade thing.  So I threw caution to the wind and poured it into the g'kids micky mouse glass.  It was not bad...in a pinch.  Too bad I didn't have any white choc liquour to add.  But this was not bad

Since giving up the grape I allow myself  "one" cocktail when I think about it.  And yesterday I decided to read some comments on the afor mentioned blogs about this chicken wonder dish. So it was cocktail time.

I should have read some of the comments before committing to make the thing.  If I would have read them before hand I would have just made it the standard way.

I was "GOBSMACKED:"  yes jamie oliver....i said GOBSMACKED...(lets face it there just isn't a satisfactory word to replace it with)  at how dryyyyy the thing was.
How could this be?  It sat in liquid for an hour and a half....in my magic pot of heavens sake.  That pot doesn't even need any liquid added to make a superior chicken.

The other dinner patrons sitting at the table did go on and on about the chicken.  But I suspect that they were just complimenting me cause in a couple weeks I'm outa here and they will miss my cooking.  So they are getting in as much complimenting as humanly possible with the time they have left.  And they did divy up the leftovers in their respective containers for lunch tomorrow.  I suggested they pour all the leftover liquid over the leftovers to ensure a moister chicken.  And I did eat a couple pieces that they didn't manage to cram into the containers with my toast this morning.  And it was moist and tasty.  But IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THIS WAY LAST NIGHT.  It's pretty hard to not have good day old leftover chicken.

lets face it, I can't really say "after all that work"  because let's be real here.  It wasn't a whole heck of a lot of work...realllllllly

It was just the antisipation for a "heavenly chicken"  that fell flat.  I have to wonder - Are there a whole lot of incompetent cooks out there that haven't actually tasted a really really good home made chicken?  Or what could possibly classify this thing as "god's gift to chicken"

And Jamie Oliver----I'm disappointed in you.

I have come to the conclusion  -  as someone posting a negative comment on one of the many blogs that I read pertaining to this post I just can't remember which one....That it's true what she says.  That celebrity chef's recipes SHOULD be treated with great suspect. Because they are generally always overblown by their own publicity machine.  They either don't work, the timing is off, something is missing from the ingreadient list, the calorie and nutricion tables have to be ignored, or they just are so simple that why would anyone actually post a recipe for it, or it just sucks.

WEll this recipe must be one of those that got the publicity treatment.

I made it once.

I doubt I will make it again....unless maybe...if I should have some chicken legs and thighs that I want to do something with.  But I would be hard pressed into substituting this recipe for Barefoot Contessa's Indonesian chicken.  Which is what I usually do with legs and thighs, Why would I waste my time with this one if I know Barefoot Contessa's will be heaven.  And I have only held it overnight in the fridge once, because it really doesn't need to be marinated overnight.  I have done it last minute ALL THE TIME.  I just am not that organized to actually do anything a day ahead.  That would be an amazing thing, to be that organized.

Barefoot Contessa - well we all know her recipes ALWAYS work out better than expected.  Where is she these days anyway?  No new book to flog lately or is she hanging out in France?

The only other celebrity..ish chef that is trustworthy is Laura Calder...ribs have never been the same in this house since reading her method.  And she has never written a recipe that was mehhhh.

Jamie Oliver though....is right up there with Rachel Ray.   Over publicized and over done....and over

So moral of this post/story???

Make this if you have some buttermilk sitting around that will spoil and you have already made pancakes for dinner the night before.  But otherwise......

It was mehhhhh.


Dinner tonight?

Lots of leftover potatoes, some ham, some chicken, lots of different kinds of cheese, left over roasted carrots, a little half bunch of broccoli, couple mushrooms,  too many eggs...prob either quiche and/or omelet (for the gluten free adult). Time to clean out the fridge.  Make some room for market day.

Mehhhh

Well I finally finished

It was a hard slog
For an author that has soooo many books to her credit I was kinda surprised at the overworded overdone ...everything.
It reads like the book is a first time author
I tend to skip overdone discriptions
I tend to skip overdone back stories...and this one was full of overdone back stories.  If I cared a bit about backstory I could read the series.  About half the book could have been avoided..  Its like the author had a word total everyday and was going to make that total everyday even if it killed her.  I don't particularly like that sort of book.  It's as if the publisher was working the name of the author instead of the actual book.  I hate when that happens.  Doesn't anyone ever read the offering before publishing it.
The story line had so much potential...buy the time I finished it i felt like the whole process was a big waste of my time.  Any book that I stop reading and and forget to start up again - well that just says alot doesn't it.  I usually have to force myself to go to bed.  But with this book  -  not so much.  I even took it to the rec centre during swimming lessons - but I never opened it.  That is a strange occurance.  A good book is usually read at stop lights, I will take transit just to get time to read instead of drive.  But this one just kinda sat unopened everywhere.

And now I'm sitting her wondering why I even finished it.  I could have just read the last chapter and caught up on everything.  Also all the dialogue was mehhhh.

That pretty much sums up the whole book
MEHHH

A year of swimming lessons

Well, maybe not a year exactly - three days in 2013 and 2 days in 2014.  Close enough to a year.  Would have been great if the 5 yr old had co-operated.  But that was asking to much.  He's having a bout of seperation anxiety that is driving all of us to distraction.

All of a sudden he won't go upstairs by himself.  I had to bring the tooth brushing stuff down to the half bath down here the last couple weeks of 2013 because it was becoming a problem getting him to go upstairs "by himself" to brush his teeth before school.

On sunday a massive protest was launched first day of swimming lessons because they were just tooooo scarey to contemplate.  The tears.....the tantrums.  Mom finally gave up.

But monday Baba took both of them.  Promised him that he was just going regular swimming.  And his sister was coming with him so that seemed to be okay.  But all the way in the van he kept qualifying the trip as "its just regular swimmming ...right baba - not lessons, promise"  I must have heard that twenty times in the ten minutes it takes to arrive at the rec centre.

Well...baba lies - what can I say

We all crashed through the turn stalls at the same time and the teenager on patrol checking tickets didn't know what hit her.  And we all managed to get through at once.  My plan was to throw the sister into the water around him and sorta sneak in the lessons.  Baba doesn't take no crap.

Well while waiting for them to start he sorta twigged that maybe baba lied.  "I'm having lessons, arent I"
"yes you are"
well the tears started.  The folded arms and the official "you can't make me" stand was presented.

He went into the water...under protest.
And just stood there against the pool wall.  But before we left home I got the sister to put on her swimsuit on  under her clothes.  So in desperation after ten minutes of this protest and tears.  He was actually standing there shaking for heavens sake.  Well I threw in the sister and asked her to just sorta stand close to him.  And it's like another boy emerged all of a sudden.  Started co-operating.  Couldn't believe what I was seeing. What a difference.  The instructor was even amazed.  So it was decided that the sister could join the lessons as an official "body guard" apparently.  "what ever it takes"  said the instructer
So - first day mom couldn't take it anymore and brought him home without evening making the rec centre.
      - second day I got him in the water and he actually seemed to be enjoying himself.
     - third day was up and dressed into swimming trunks before his breakfast.  But held on tight to his sisters hand and ran into the water with her.  (He's actually a water baby under any other circumstance----usually can't get him out of the water).  She swam around his lesson group and then we stayed about two hours after the lesson.  I actually put on my bathing suit that tuesday because that was the plan.  Swimming in the pool for the afternoon after the lessons.  As we were leaving I noticed there was a group of kids and instructors in the climbing room.  And on learning that admittion included "all day" in the "whole" facility...I promised them swimming and climbing today.
He just hates doing anything new.  He refused to play soccer on the team ...just threw a tantrum all day before soccer even started.  Every-single-time.
And now it's the going and staying upstairs by himself.
Lately he's been climbing into mommy and daddy's bed around midnight.  So they put their foot down and refused to let him last night.  So I woke up to screaming and tantrums around 200 am.  After a half hour of this I figured I would try calm everyone down and marched everyone into their respective rooms.  And there I sat on his little chair for an hour.  He kept sneaking peaks at me to make sure I was still in his room.  After around 330 or so I heard this huge sigh and I crept up sloooooowly to inspect.  And sure enough he seemed to be asleep ---finally.
I remember doing this about 30 years ago....until a baby sister was produced to share my sons room.  So today I'm moving the mattress from his sisters room into his room (he has this weird ikea loft bed thing that usually has all his lego's in a huge tub under the bed, that will accomodate a mattress underneath the main bed) and hopefully everyone will sleep better tonight.  It seemed to work for my son so maybe it will work for the g'son too.  I sure hope so.

Way to many books to deal with

first book of the year

I don't know why I'm using up precious time on here.  I really have to get some Books done.  As in Bookkeeping..those clients ....I need some $$$  so I really need some billable hours.  But just can't seem to get into quickbooks.  Blahhhh

And then there's all the other books that are cluttering up the place.
Dec 31st I got down to the library to collect my reserves

At the beginning of the week I got into some blogs that listed "Best of 2013"  and happened upon many lists with many books I'd never heard of.  So I reserved all I could and then had to add the remaining ones onto pinterest file of overflow book titles

An Inquiry into Love & Death

First Paragraph:

My uncle Toby died of a broken neck in the autumn of 1924, just as I was starting the Michaelmas term at Oxford.  I was pulled from the back of the lecture hall by a pimpled assistant in thick Mary Janes and an ill-fitting skirt who hissed that I had a confiential summons and must go to the administrative office at once.  She even led me there, though it was just across the quad, so agog was she at the mystery of it.

Hmm... "thick Mary Janes"....I though mary janes where shoes.  Thick shoes?   As in ...the soles.

Next.....

The Devil In Her Way

The punch caught Maureen flush in the temple, striking near her right eye.

That's it for first paragraph.
Can't take much from that.
Though the review were either five stars or three stars.

...next

Reconstructing Amelia

Hey bitches!  Ah, the beginning of another school year.  And I'm back with all the shit that's not fit to print....

hmmm
next....

The Great Escape A Canadian Story

Ahead of him in the distance, lie the Alps.  Disguised in a German dispatch rider's battledress and stahlhelm helmet, a fugitive hero brings his motorcycle to a sudden halt in the middle of this back road in wartime Germany.  Nervously jerking the bike's throttle,  he wheels his body around in the saddle, searching for his pursuers.  A close-up catches his face as his eyes settle on the mountains ahead.

Heard about this book on CBC radio.  Who knew the story the movie was based on was Canadian.
Wow  five stars.

...I do love history
but

still more books to catch my eye at the foot of the bed

There's....

Caught

Slaney broke out of the woods and skidded down a soft embarkment to the side of the road.  There was nothing but forest on both sides of the asphalt as far as he could see.  He thought it might be three in the morning an he was about two miles from the prison.  It had taken an hour to get through the woods.

I've been waiting awhile for this book to appear on the reserve shelf with my name on it.  I wonder why I ordered it.  It must have been after a trip to Indigo Books.  I usually take a pic of all the latest greatest on display next to the cashiers.  Then when I come home I order all the ones that catch my eye from the library.
....There aren't much wasted wording in the first paragraph.  So It might be interesting without bogging down with toooooo much overdiscription....

But....
Then there's

"WINNER'  this is the one to start the year off with...I've been thinking of nothing else all evening except starting this one.  But ....Am I really up to the "reading all nite" syndrome

Widow's Tears

Rachel Blackwood got up early that morning.  She had not slept well: her youngest daughter, three-year-old Angela, was suffering from a sore throat and had cried often for her mother in the night, needing to be soothed.

hmmmm....but the sentence that grabs my eye is on the inside of the jacket
After losing her husband, five children, housekeeper, and beautiful home in the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, Rachel Blackwood rebuilt her home and later died there, have been drive mad with grief.

....now that catches my reading (do I want to spend the day with this book) eye.

and last up from the new pic of books

The Vegucation of Robin

...I don't know....I've kinda had my fill of latest and greatest new way of looking at food.  I'm living with a gluten free inhabitant.  And yes...I do feel differently with so much gluten in my diet that is unnecessary.  That can be substituted with gluten free stuff.  But it's all takes so much time (I'm actually whinning in my head just plucking away on the keyboard)  it's just so time consuming.  Not to mention $$$$  And why should it cost more.  That's just crap in my estimation.  Whenever I'm up against a product to purchase that I need, if there's a gluten free one next to the gluten loaded on.  Well I buy the free one.  I even call numbers on the label of spice mixes and things like ketchup and salsa and mustards and other codiments that are regularly found in our fridge to inquire their gluten status.  Those rare times that I actually bake something.....it will be gluten free.  Why bother otherwise.

My daughter wasn't exactly gluten intolerant ....just as an experiment at first.  But anytime gluten was eaten in error there was always consiquences.  She's been gluten free almost 100% since summer and has quite severe allergic reactions for the simplest slip up.  It's quite amazing the reaction she endures.  So one can only wonder what gluten is actually doing to our digestive system when it's eaten regularly.  Milk and gluten...both are should be eaten in moderation.  I'm talking milk...as a beverage for children.  My son had milk alergies as a baby when trying to get him off the boob and since then none of my children really were encouraged to drink milk. I had to get him on solid food after almost a year of the boob.    I used to make my own juice instead.  Except with cereal.  But cheese and butter and creams etc weren't ever eliminated or substituted.  Just the milk as a beverage.  And I've always had a milk and ice cream intolerance (just those two...strangely enough)

....so to have yet another food thing....well, there's just so much room in my brain for yet more information to file away about the horrors of yet another food....getting tiresome.  But I wonder why I had it (the book) put on reserve.

I've managed to give up the grape...since Nov 17th or so.
I've given up tylenol 3's and 4's ...cold turkey for my pain management (that actually became an addiction)
Substituted gluten free for gluten whenever possible.  (but bread is bread....and perogie's are perogies and I'm not a huge fan of pasta to begin with, but the gluten free stuff is just horrid. I say just eliminate the pasta and use anything else instead.  Like spag. sauce on frites is a good sub. Or zuchini thinly sliced instead of lasagna noodles.  And gravy just tastes better if it's gluten free.  Can't believe anyone would eat it otherwise.)

So I don't know if I'm in the mood to read about yet another food thing.

What else is cluttering up my reserve list at the library....waiting for someone to make available?

You Can't Win -  Black, Jack 

 (that's been on reserve for about a year.   Getting tired of waiting for this one for sure.  Don't even remember what it was about, or why I even reserved it.  Might have to cancel this one. 

 Balaboosta : bold Mediterranean recipes  -  Admony, Einat 
must be on order....

Mastering the Art of French Eating : lessons in food and love from a year in Paris -  Mah, Ann
can't remember why I ordered this one.  But sounds interesting.  Must have read a blog perhaps.

Franny's: Simple Seasonal Italian - Clark, Melissa
Prob from a blog

Shopping for Votes - Delacourt, Susan 
A political thing....

Maximum flavor : recipes that will change the way you cook - Kamozawa, Aki 

something that will change the way I cook.  Yeah....as if that will happen.  But I'm open to suggestions so I guess I will have to take a look at this one.

Banquet of Lies - Diener, Michelle 

I have to idea what this is about or why I put it on reserve.  

How to Feed a Family : the sweet potato chronicles cookbook - Marsh, Ceri 

yet another blog that has been published

Corpse Flower - Ferris, Gloria 

This one was on several "best of 2013" lists....

Silence for the Dead - St. James, Simone 

On another 2013 list as a stand alone or else a new author to check out if it happens to be a series

Troubled Daughters Twisted Wives : stories from the trailblazers of domestic suspense - Weinman, Sarah ...prob from a blog

Spider Woman's daughter  - Hillerman, Anne

on a "best of 2013" list

Tainted : a Dr. Zol Szabo medical mystery - Pennie, Ross

First in a series.  Sounds like something I need to read

The professionals - Laukkanen, Owen

on a "best of 2013" list or the first in a series.   Can't remember, it's either one or the other

Honour among men : an Inspector Green mystery - Fradkin, Barbara Fraser

another one from a list of "best of 2013' Or else first in a series of one on a list

Save yourself  - Braffet, Kelly

Have no idea why its on reserve...prob from a best of 2013 list

If you were here  - Burke, Alafair

The list again...and if ever there was an author with an interest name...well I would read this book just for the authors name alone ( must have been a typo on the birth certificate maybe) and it's a "suspense' ...what more can one ask for.

There was an old woman  - Ephron, Halli

the list again

Every secret thing  - Kearsley, Susannah

this author was on the list, but was part of a series so I believe this is the title of the first in a series...but I could be wrong.

Graveland - Glynn, Alan

on the "best of" list

Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian highway = Gran, Sara

forget why...but either on the list or first in a series

Pandora's lunchbox : how processed food took over the American meal - Warner, Melanie

A conspiracy food thing....One more reason to be pissed at food industry

The crossing places : [a Ruth Galloway mystery] - Griffiths, Elly

first in a series that was on the list

Not your mother's make-ahead and freeze cookbook :  - Fisher, Jessica

sorta self explanitory

Table of contents : from breakfast with Anita Diamant to dessert with James Patterson-- a generous helping of recipes, writings, and insights from today's bestselling authors - Gelman, Judy

prob a sucky book.  But sounded interesting

Olivia Bean, Trivia Queen - Gephart, Donna

on a list.   prob a tween book.   But title sounded interesting

The irresistible blueberry bakeshop & café  - lSimses, Mary

either from a food blog or else on a best of food book list for 2013

The keeper of lost causes ; [or, Mercy] - Adler-Olsen, Jussi

a book with two titles, and an author with a first name of Jussi.  Why wouldn't I reserve this.

Quilting happiness : projects, inspiration, and ideas to make quilting more joyful - Lane, Christina

Most of the quilting books I've read lately...I've been wondering how they ever got published.  Cause they've all SUCKED....So this one just prob will also.  But I will give it a chance.  You never know...

The wicked girls - Marwood, Alex

on a list for "best of 2013"

Ninety percent of everything : inside shipping, the invisible industry that puts clothes on your back, gas in your car, and food on your plate - George, Rose

with a title like this.   why wouldn't I reserved it...also prob from a list of best of something or other of 2013...prob something to do with the food industry villians....

Norwegian by night - Miller, Derek

prob from a best of 2013 list

Visitation street - Pochoda, Ivy

Best of 2013 list

Humans of New York - Stanton, Brandon

Had this on reserve for awhile.  Seems to have a long list ahead of me

The smitten kitchen cookbook  - Perelman, Deb

Blog that's been published.  I think I've had it already, but didn't get a chance to actually read it before I had to return it before fines were incured.

The dinosaur feather - Gazan, Sissel-Jo

On a 2013 list...something about dinosaurs and birds and anthropology and perhaps murder....

Let's explore diabetes with owls  Sedaris, David

He's a funny guy....what can I say

Still Life  - Penny, Louise

Author prob had a book on a list for best of 2013 and this might or might not be first in a series??? But I don't quite remember one way or the other.  But author has a following and I don't think I've read any of her books.  Though I find that not likely.  But stranger things have happened but I do love discovering a new author with lots of books to her credit.  Always a plus

The great Canadian bucket list : one-of-a-kind travel experiences - Esrock, Robin

Who wouldn't reserve this one.  Hope it actually has somehting interesting in it.  Has a long list ahead of me though.

W is for wasted - Grafton Sue

well...I've read them all to this point.  Even though the last couple have left me more irritated that pleased.  I'm sorta committed to this point.  Have to see it through....

An officer and a spy - Harris, Robert

either on a list of "best of" or first in a series.  Can't remember

Sandrine's case - Cook, Thomas

First in a series of author on a list...I think...

The war that ended peace : the road to 1914 - MacMillan, Margaret

Put this on reserve after listening to a program on CBC radio...and she's a good writer

The Massey murder : a maid, her master, and the trial that shocked a country - Gray, Charlotte

Had this one of reserve for awhile.  A long list ahead of me.  Hope it's worth waiting for

Sycamore Row  Grisham, John

Well...it's Grisham...and I don't buy books.  so I'll wait for the 76 still ahead of me.  could be worse...When I first put it on hold the wait list was around 250.

Five days at Memorial : life and death in a storm-ravaged hospital - Fink, Sheri

author was on CBC radio flogging the book and it sounded like an interesting read

Saints of the shadow bible : an Inspector Rebus novel - Rankin, Ian

It's an Ian Rankin....nothing more needs to be said

The silent wife- Harrison, A. S. A.

I cant remember why it's on my list.  but There are 256 people ahead of me.  I just hope there are several copies or this might take as long as a grisham novel to get my hands on.

An astronaut's guide to life on earth - Hadfield, Chris

What's not to like about this guy?  281 People ahead of me though.  I will probably buy this one.  I like him more and more everytime I see him on TV or hear him on the radio.  Prob next time I'm in costco and it's on display...it will be at the checkout with me.

....and then there's the overflow

on 

pinterest.com

And it's only Jan 1st.  An already there's over a hundred books I MUST read this year.  Who has time for actually getting billable hours.  

2014

...Nice blue sky
...It isn't snowing
...It's not minus double digits...as in -25 degrees
...The tree was down yesterday
...Xmas crapp in container in garage
...Empties in the recycling/deposit bin
...I don't think anyone in household has hangover
...Xmas toys are still in one piece
...Lego'crap still all together in original projects

So far...so good
2014 coming in with a sigh of relief.....seems everyone had a crappy 2013.   I don't recall anything extreme in the negative for me...but maybe I'm just forgetting ...but I don't think so.  Nothing earth shattering to report for 2013.  Except maybe my age.  Still having trouble coming to terms with that.

Weirdest toy

But still intact...although she did loose her wings a few times..but snapped back together pretty quickly without breaking.  For a MADE IN CHINA crap toy....seems to be holding up.  But I reserve the right to return it if it's broken.  Refuse to accept crappy broken toys in the house just because quality control from factory is so lousy.  Anything broken always gets returned.   If your going to make the crap at least make it to last more than a week, or a month.  Why waste everyones time.  I know...I know  if things from china didn't fall apart so quickly then what would become of the disposable industry that is china.  Well....maybe ruling party might fall apart....shhhhh. Don't tell anyone.  They must maintain power at all costs after all.

It is entertaining even if it is a weird toy.

I either read, or heard...can't recall exactly which one it was - but apparently shipping costs per container heading this way from the far east is about $2000 a container.  Full.  And only $50 for the return voyage to the shipper.  That's how desperate they are to get the containers back to fill with more crap that will break so that it can be quickly replaced.  A visious cycle.

That sounds about right.  Back in the day.....
I worked in Container Traffic unloading on the west coast...trans shipping to the east..and all parts in between. Full of manufactured items and the containers going back were all vertually empty except for the occational container of raw product like logs precut for log homes, liquid molybdenum (probably spelled wrong...it's been awhile that I had to type that on a manifest)in drums from mines in northern BC.  Not to much ever went the other way.  One would think that someone would have figured out a way to fill the containers up with raw oil from Alberta by now.  .....or maybe they have and no one really knows about it yet....hmmm

Bad Elf

...you got a license to carry that

Sugar high

Blah Blah Blather...

A day in the life....

Was woken up out of a restless night around 5:45AM to screaming and yelling - two g'kids fighting over who gets the wii controller and who ends up with the tablet.  It's all about the damn Mario...

Daddy was in the shower

G'kids were rolling around on the floor, honestly the person that invented Mario needs to be shot.  Asshole...
I didn't even have my cup of java yet and I had to deal with this crap
I turned off the wii and the tablet and had to listen to a whole lot of screaming and crying.  But the rules....No Mario, No Wii, No tablets if I'm in charge.  And I"M IN CHARGE

There they sat...ooooh what to do ...what to do when BABA YOU NEVER LET US DO ANYTHING and then the g'daughter stomped her way over to the TV remote that got taken out of her hands

It's not even 6AM yet FCS!!!....

Rule #1....GET DRESSED

Rule #2...GET A BOOK AND SIT DOWN AT THE TABLE

So while they were doing that I got my coffee and daddy was out the door and mommy was coming down the stairs

Of coarse they're perfect little angels by this time.

I don't know what happened this morning because I don't usually get woken up until at least 6:30 by one and the other one isn't up till 7.  Though it's never the same one and any given day.  Very rarely both are up this early.  Someone had a bag dream and woke the other one up and all four were in bed together this morning apparently.  So that's why the day started off sucking.

So by 6:45 they were scarfing down french toast and watching Phineas and Ferb.  God I hate that show....

While they were eating I was making up their lunches and snacks for school.  I particularly hate this part...this is the reason that WE always lived a block away or across the field or across the street almost...from every schoool my kids ever went to.  And strangely even though we moved ALOT and I mean AAAALLLLOT I always managed to accomplish this.  When I was in school my parents lived across the school field from all three of them except Grade 8 which was a bus ride away.  Horrors.  I had the luxury of waking up 15 minutes before school and coming home for lunch after,  every mom was a stay at home mom in the sixty's. When I was a teenager my bus friends would be sitting around watching soap operas over lunch. So when my first born got to kindergarten and He was a car ride away and I had to drag two other toddlers into the car or into a buggy or a carrier....That lasted 6 months.  How did people do this I thought.  This is nuts.

When we moved to another province....That was the major requirement....MUST BE NEXT TO SCHOOL

Except that one time when I lost my mind and we moved into a rural...very rural ...up a mountain...down and then up and all around that mountain.  My kids were in grade 9, 6 and 4.  We lasted about 2 months (the longest two months of my life)....Whatwasithinking.....One morning that finally had me packing boxes was the morning of a particularly heavy snowfall (it wasn't even halloween yet FGS) and off they went on the school bus ...not more than an hour later they were tramping in the door.

"The bus fell off the road mom"
"We had to go out the back door, it was really fun jumping out of the bus"
"The front door was scrunched up"

WHAT..WHERE...HOW???

How did you get home?
On a snowmobile.  Apparently

Two weeks later I was living in my grandmothers (she had died many years previously) house that my uncle was renting out.  But his renters up and left him high and dry.  No sooner had he told me all this sad news one day when I came for tea, that I wasn't moved in  by the end of that week.  He didn't know what hit him cause I didn't pay any rent for a year.  And then bought it.

Wow that was a long story...why did I get on this story anyway.

OHhh yeah...lunchs

Opened the garage door and started the van at 745 and by the time all the scarves, gloves, toques, snow boots, snow pants, hoodies, parkas, (I'm exhausted just typing this, never mind actually putting all this crap on X 2) and backpacks....It was 8am

Thank you weather gods...it didn't snow last night

SO I didn't have to slip slide my way out of the neighborhood this morning.

Lately the kids have been complaining about my radio choices
"Baba....you never have music on - just talk talk talk"....(cbc radio-what can I say)

So last week I grabbed a bunch of CD's from the "new and notable" shelf of the library.  And we listened to Katy Perry....Eye of the Tiger all the way to school...full blast.  So lately to prevent all the "she's touching me" or "he's poking me"'ssssss I have insisted that they bring activity books with them whenever they are in the van.  So there we were singing at the top of our lungs and they were coloring like mad back there.  So far it's much more pleasant with the two of them back there.  I was tempted to stick the third row of seats into the back just to seperate them.  Mornings were becoming a battle ground lately.

My ears were ringing all the way home by myself without the noisey music.

Made myself breakfast...turned on the computer.
What.....it's already time to turn around and pick the kindergartener up.   I hate kindergarten.

So this is when I start museing about dinner.  I toke out of the freezer a pork roast (last nite) from my mark-down buying binge end of November.  Geez here it is almost the middle of December and I'm still working off those mark downs in the freezer.....a.m...a...z...i...n...g

NO YAMS ...darn

Have to make a trip to the supermarket.  GRRR
Couldn't find my debit card yesterday....still missing
Only have a toonie in my pocket....
Hmmmm

Here piggy...piggy

Isn't this pathetic?

I had to gut the pig (well okay open the bottom up) for a $20 bill.  I knew it was in there, cause I put it in.  My mother before boarding her flight to Maui for 6 weeks of xmas bliss....handed all her great grand children a twenty just the other day.  So there it was for my supermarket trip.  Someone remind me to put it back later.  Or i'll surely forget and end up with egg all over my face when she wants to go shopping.

Baby Yams ended up only $1.77 for the bag....but where oh where is that darn toonie.  Have to use the twenty.

So I have some brussel sprouts and a head of cauliflower in the fridge and some overripe apples and the pork.

I was reading

and I found

....and when my mother arrived in town to catch her plane the day before the flight...she also brought a huge bag of

that's right...hazelnuts.  From her own trees no less.

so

hopefully it will look something like this.  (from the book) although I copied  this pic from her website that wasn't the recipe that was credited for this picture in the cookbook.  Hmmmm - one would think if the recipes are being tested that surely one would photograph at least one of the attempts to fool proof the recipe.  But I guess NOT

And the Quinoa & Brussels Sprout Salad

though....mine doesn't look like this.  When I made it (we ate it to fast to bother with pics) I added some chopped up

and some feta cheese and prob some clubhouse greek blend.  I put that stuff on everything.  

Ohhh geez it's after 12:30 already.  I have stuff to do....