Books

Excuses, Books to Read, & Eats Lately

by Diana on March 13, 2012

Sometimes I say I don’t have time to read, but that’s such an excuse, ya know? We each get the same 24 hours/day, but we choose to use that time differently. Saying “I don’t have time to <insert activity of choice>” is one of the most cringe-worthy excuses in my mind, though I do find myself saying it from time to time. *sigh* I always remind myself about the “same 24 hours” idea, though…it helps keep me in check.

Anywho, I’m hoping to start making some time at least once a week to start reading again. I also have some vacation coming up, and I’m taking one whole week off of work. Woohoo! So, I’m hoping to enjoy some relaxing downtime and get some reading QT into the agenda (or non-agenda depending on how the vacay goes).

As most of you guys probably already know, I’m much better at starting things than finishing them. Here are some books I’ve started and would like to finish sometime soon:

My Life in France

The Happiness Project

Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office

Finding Your Own North Star

The Art of Racing in the Rain – I actually haven’t started this book. I don’t even know what it’s about. My sister bought it for me for Christmas, and I trust her judgement in selecting some quality reading material. I’m actually kind of excited to read a book that I don’t know much about.

I know some of you have requested I post more of my daily eat photos, but they are truly so boring, you really don’t want to see them. I’ve been eating a whole lot of sandwiches and noodle bowls, including the above meal from the other day. I had a turkey/havarti sandwich with sliced bell pepper (the vegetable side of choice for the lazy/busy girl).

And tonight, I had to eat dinner solo, so I picked up a white wine rotisserie chicken breast at The Fresh Market, which I had with sauteed kale and leftover farro. By the way, not sure if you guys have tried the farro recipe I posted the other day, but you know how I don’t like leftovers? This stuff tastes better re-heated! Yes, it’s a leftover I love! I put mine in a small pot with a splash of vegetable broth to keep it from sticking. Yum! I also morphed some of the leftovers into a breakfast dish (recipe on the way).

Thanks for reading!

Reader questions: What books have you read recently and loved? Are you better at starting things or finishing things?

{ 9 comments }

Un-Plugging at the Lake

by Diana on June 21, 2011

in Books,Dinner,Doggie,Travel

Do you ever take the time to un-plug? I mean…do you ever step away from the internet, computer, cell phone, and other modern technologies? I wasn’t expecting to stay away from the blog as long as I did (not that it was that long), but since I was on vacation, I decided to just do whatever I felt like doing. And what I felt like doing was enjoy the beautiful nature around, take in the peace and quiet, and do some old-fashioned things like read a book.

I came well-equipped for some quality reading time with 3 magazines and 3 books.

And over breakfast on our first (and only) full day at the lake, I dug into one – Finding Your Own North Star. I found out about this book from The Fitnessista who is always reading fun, inspirational books. This book, by Martha Beck, is about figuring out your path to happiness by finding your own “North Star.” Just like explorers use the North Star in the sky to determine which way they’re going, by figuring out your “North Star”, you can better navigate your way to your ideal life.

Here’s a great snippet from the book:

Right in the middle of my life, I realized that I wasn’t where I wanted to be. It was like I’d wandered off the right path into a very, very bad neighborhood. I don’t even want to remember how scary that space was – makes me feel like I’m gonna die or something. I’m only telling you about it because a lot of good came of it in the long run. So anyway, I don’t even know how I ended up so far off course. I felt like I’d been sleepwalking.” – Dan, age 41

If you can relate to that paragraph, then you just may get some good use out of this book. As for me, since I’m such an analytical person, I’m constantly evaluating things, my life included. Sometimes I wonder where I’m going. Am I doing what I’m meant to do? Could I be doing more to help more people? I don’t have the answers, and I’m not sure I ever will, not all of them at least. But, I think life is more about evaluation and re-evaluation and less about getting every single last life-question answered. I think the process of thinking through deep questions has the power to open your eyes and make you a better person. And this book definitely has me thinking.

Besides spending a few glorious hours poring through my new book, I also snapped these funny photos of Bailey just after he got out of the lake from his first swim of this trip.

His fur always looks so funny after it gets wet!

Later in the day, I offered to make one of the family meals of the vacation.

Since hubby’s sister’s family is mostly vegetarian, we decided on a spinach-ricotta lasagna.

Family dining at the table.

The lasagna was a hit…especially served with with yummy Great Harvest Virginia rolls. Nommm!

And post dinner, we played a new card game with wine and chocolate chip dough balls.

Hubby’s sister’s fam brought the card game – Dixit. The game is a lot like Apples to Apples, except it’s more for the creative/artistic soul since you use art work instead of words. This game is also great for younger kids since it’s completely visual – no words required! Fear not adults, the game is fun for grown-ups, too. I had a blast playing it!

Wow, what an “old-fashioned” day! We:

Read books
Ate dinner at the dinner table
Played board games

I had a great day un-plugged from the rest of the world.

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Next time on TCL, wait till you see the photos of Bailey on his first boat outing!

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Do you like to un-plug when you go on vacation? What about during regular weeks?

{ 5 comments }

Book Procrastination & Dough Balls Redux

by Diana on June 13, 2011

in Books,Cooking & Baking,Dessert,Dinner,Doggie,Lunch,Restaurant

There are many things that I procrastinate doing, and they’re not all bad.

Take, for example, finishing Water for Elephants. Sure, I could have finished the book weeks ago. But instead…

…instead, I folded a corner near one of the final chapters down and decided to wait. I guess I didn’t actually decide to wait, I just never decided to finish the book. I just don’t want the story to end. The last couple chapters are becoming precious pages of reading material that must only be enjoyed on special occasion. Part of me knows how silly this is, and yet part of me wants Mr. Jankowski (the young and old versions) to live on in page after page of typed black letters and heart-wrenching stories.

After waiting several weeks, I think I’m finally to finish reading the last couple chapters…just maybe.

On Sunday, I woke up wanting to do something fun and new with the blueberries I picked up at the farmer’s market the day before.

In my head, I envisioned something like an individual berry breakfast crisp, but with the oat topping mixed throughout the berries. But, I also wanted to mix an egg into the batter for protein (to keep you full!), and I figured that would throw the proportions off, making more of an individual breakfast cake.

I think the end result wasn’t far from a cake. It’s either cake or muffin like. I’m thinking of calling it an Individual Blueberry Breakfast Scoop-Cake, since you eat it with a spoon. It’s also a new Not So Sweet recipe, and a cinch to whip up. I think you guys will like it! I’ll be sharing the recipe some time this week.

Although we did great picking up produce at the market yesterday, we didn’t get any proteins.

So, I just whipped up a noodle bowl, Italian-themed this time, for a quick lunch. I used frozen onions, pasta water, organic cherry tomatoes, fresh basil from my herb garden, and bread crumbs. Pasta water helped make the sauce. It was simple, tasty, and made the house smell amazing!

Another thing I procrastinate doing is responding to blog comments. Oops. I don’t know why I procrastinate this since reading and responding to blog comments is one of my absolutely favorite parts of blogging! Seriously you guys, I read each and every comment you all post. They make me smile, laugh, think, and overall feel good. They are wonderful, so please, keep em coming.

And if you saw a slew of comment responses hit your email inbox on Sunday, that’s because I like to set aside some time to reply to comments to make it even extra special. Lately, I’ve been hitting up local coffee shops, finding a nice quiet table, and sipping on some sort of flavored latte whilst reading and responding to you all. It is one of my favorite things to do on the weekend!

I also brought some reading material to the coffee shop – Well Being Journal, Summer Entertaining, and Clean Eating magazine – the 3 purchases I made at the book shop the night before.

And even hubby and Bailey made the trip to FABO. I love how they let you bring your pets inside! And being surrounded by so much beautiful, locally made art helps fuel my creative spirit.

After the coffee shop, Megan came over for dinner.

Hubby and I made grilled chicken breasts and grilled potatoes – both with a lemon/rosemary vinaigrette with rosemary from our backyard. I also made steamed cabbage (from the market!) and carrots.

And for dessert…

…a little something I’ve been missing – Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls (click for recipe)!

After watching the Food TV show (several weeks ago) where Annie the Baker showed the audience how to make her sugar cookie dough balls, I was inspired to try a new preparation method. It worked…and was actually one of the methods I utilized when I went through my trial batch period perfecting my own version of the “dough ball.” I’m thinking the method will mean having dough balls at your beckoning call, which means you guys will flip! Or maybe it’s just me flipping…because I’d have just cause to procrastinate baking them? You’ll see…

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Reader Question #1: What are you guilty of procrastinating?

Reader Question #2: Did you ever delay finishing a book because you don’t want the story to end? Which book was it?

{ 13 comments }

A Dish + A Book

by Diana on April 8, 2011

in Books,Dinner

Thursday… the first day of the end of the week. lol. I think of Wednesday as the middle and Thursday the beginning of the end. A sign that we’re closer to 2 days of freedom. Yesssssss!

The work day was incredibly hectic, but luckily, I had Zumba to save me later. I taught a small but mighty class. So fun!

My favorite songs of the night:

Hella Decale
Diva
Right Round

As sun was setting, I headed out with some friends from class for dinner.

I only had my iPhone, so I just snapped a couple photos from the restaurant of the evening – Dish. A local favorite with some of the friendliest staff I’ve seen in a restaurant.

My friends (Shamecia, Talicha, and Sarah) and I went family style for dinner, sharing 1 appetizer and 3 entrees:

Nachos
Blacked Tuna, collard greens, mac and cheese
Pecan Chicken with honey butter, mashed potatoes, and extra deviled eggs (the eggs are a key feature of the restaurant)
Cajun meatloaf with extra mashed potatoes and extra collard greens

After a few minutes of divvying up food (without contamination for me – the sole germiphobe of the table), we were ready to eat. And eat we did. The food was fabulous, as always! I just love this place.

Upon getting home, I decided to try something new. The house was quiet, as hubby had already gone to bed. Instead of downloading photos to my computer, blogging, or turning on the TV, I changed, made hot tea, and got cozy on the couch with Bailey.

I spent 45 glorious minutes doing something I haven’t done in ages – reading. My book of choice – Water for Elephants. I bought it because the trailer for the movie looked really interesting, and I figured the book would better.

So far, so good. It’s quite the page turner. It’s not so much an exciting or thrilling story where you have to know what happens next. But the author, Sara Gruen, does a fantastic job of pulling you right into the story.

I can’t wait to read more. It feels good to be reading again. To lose yourself in a story completely different than your every day life.

I know it sounds silly to not really spend time reading books, but when you get into the crazy schedule of a working life, sometimes things you enjoy doing get pushed aside for must-dos or other hobbies. When I was a kid, I would spend days upon days just reading books. One of my favorite childhood authors was Christopher Pike. I blogged about his book series before and was happy to read that many of my readers are also fans. And for one of my all-time favorite books – Interview with a Vampire. Maybe it was because I saw the movie and thought Brad Pitt was a smokin hot vampire. But, I credit the fantastic storyline and writing style of Anne Rice. I read that book 3 times, and I would happily read it again. In fact, I probably should. It’s been about 10 years since I last read it.

What’s your favorite book of all time?

{ 29 comments }

The Time I Lost My Adventurous Eater Side

March 24, 2011

So, I guess I owe you guys a story about deep-fried shrimp heads. Sure, I could save it for another day, but why not go ahead and tell the tale. I Shall Try Anything Once When I was in college, I went out with some friends to a local sushi restaurant for a evening of [...]

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Holiday Speed + Simple Brussels Sprouts

December 2, 2010

It’s that time of year again! The time when things both speed up and slow down. The holidays are in full effect! I professed my love of staying up late (or inability to go to bed early) to my Facebook friends a few days ago. My new focus for December is to attempt to get [...]

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Rye Bakers Dozen…Or Two

September 6, 2010

Sis and I had plans to make Chic Bars first thing this morning. So we threw a batch together. Easy-peesy. Mom went out for a bagel run and came home with 2 dozen of these delicious rye bagels that I adore. I thought she was just getting some for breakfast (though I was hopeful she’d [...]

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Very Green Salad

August 10, 2010

I’m obsessed. No, not with this delicious Don Pablo coffee…. …with those cursedly delicious Great Harvest cinnamon rolls. Gah! My parents know this is nothing new. Even as a child, I had a tendency to latch onto a food once in awhile and eat it till I was sick of it. I did that with [...]