quiet and carrot cake

I've had such a quiet and domestic time of it.

I laundered nearly all my clothes (certainly every last pair underwear and all my gym clothes).

I made Deb's amazing carrot cake with maple cream cheese frosting (it's amazing so I then spent 2 days foisting it on neighbors so I won't actually eat it). The only modifications I made were to reduce the amount of sugar in the cake by half a cup, to swap nutmeg for cloves (out of nutmeg and didn't feel like going back out) and to make less frosting than the recipe yields (having made it last year and being left with a ton of delicious frosting was a challenge I chose not to revisit on myself - damn that frosting is delicious!) 

Then, since I had about two cups of grated carrots left I made tuna pasta salad to bring to work for the next few days (but no carrot cake because my co-workers; especially the narky one, don't deserve such goodness). I also mixed some carrots into mac & cheese because I find that to be tasty and the colors match up well. Oh, your foods aren't usually color compatible? I don't know how you live. 

I watched One Day, not a good movie at all (and I  knew this, for I'd been warned) yet a fairly good book, go figure. I also watched Our Idiot Brother which was a lot more entertaining than I thought it would be. The saddest part of the weekend was surely when I realized I was totally caught up with Shameless and now I have to wait and watch it as it airs. Like... like... a commoner. I also finished reading a book I didn't care for at all. Everything We Ever Wanted by YA phenom Sara Shepard. This blurb could not have missed the mark more;  

This riveting, provocative and well-crafted family drama surprised and delivered at every turn. I could not put it down.” (Sarah Mlynowski, author...)

I was so able to put it down I left it at work over a weekend, started reading another book forgetting I had this going and then speed/scan read to finish it already. I was not-riveted, reading this tiny little book quickly became kind of a chore to finish, specifically because it was neither provocative, well-crafted or surprising. The surprises in the book? How small the story seemed, how one note the characters were. The big twist/big reveal is so small and unremarkable I kept going back to see if I'd missed something bigger. I'm going to go out on a limb and say this book was mainly published on the strength of her young adult writing/books. There was genuinely no story here, though I could feel that way because I'm coming off of reading a rich and intricate book. 

And now for pure hypocrisy; I think I watched the entire season of Kourtney and Kim Take NY. I'm not proud per se, just accomplished. 

shamelessly obsessed

I'd seen so many billboards, bus ads and commercials that I recently started catching up on last season's episodes of Shameless. Turns out I'm really digging it. It's got William H Macy and Joan Cusack (love them!), the super annoying son from War of the Worlds plays Emmy Rossum's boyfriend, and I like him here, a lot. The rest of the kids, the neighbor couple, I find all of the characters interesting and funny in their own ways and really, after watching nearly all of season one my only question is why does Emmy Rossum look hollow-eyed and jaundiced in every episode? I get that the Gallagher's are poor but she gets dressed up fairly often and hell, they have a washer and dryer, surely she's got a smidgen of concealer hiding around somewhere. If, like me, you find your tv watching suffering a slight dip with the absence of Dexter and Homeland (Homeland: too good for words) I highly recommend catching up on Shameless. 

A few blocks away from my apartment is one of those still rather elusive NYC 7/11's. I constantly forget it's there but the other day I was headed home from ... I don't remember... and I noticed 7/11. Thinking coffee would be nice (and necessary because that's what addiction means) I stopped in and found these!

Sweet Potato Popchips? Yes please! I love regular popchips and I like sweet potatoes, how can this go wrong? It could not go wrong is the answer. They were freaking delicious. The only down side to them was that I'd only bought one bag and it was 12 degrees out. I did what any self respecting adult would do. I took to twitter to whine about my poor purchasing judgement (one bag? just one? did I think the Kremlin would not allow 2 bags?!) and the fact that it was simply too cold to correct my poor purchasing judgement. Well about an hour later Hilary tweets to me that she's got a popchips contest going on her blog and she suggests I enter (it's a very complex system whereby I must leave a comment. I handle the confusion deftly if I do say so myself). So deftly actually that a day or so later I discover... I won! Popchips sent me a carton of their (baked, never fried) deliciousness. Sweet potato, chili lime, bbq, sour cream & onion, regular... all of them! This is naturally incredibly exciting as in all the years I've been alive I've won a box MAC cosmetics, a who-caught-the-biggest-fish contest and now these (not a lot of winning for as many years as I've been alive): 

 

(a carton in a variety of flavors, score!)

taken from here 

Also on my list of obsessions; Sophie Hannah books. Dark, twisty British mysteries are pretty high on my 'favorite kinds of books to read' list. My obsession with Sophie Hannah books has gotten so bad that I've taken to using my Hanukkah amazon.com gift certificate to order her books from their UK site. I just received the most recent books of her two days ago and it took a ridiculous amount of wherewithal to go to work instead of cracking the book open and lying around eating popchips and reading all day (I'm only this stoic because tomorrow is Friday). I'm a big guesser of outcomes, I'm the one you hate seeing movies with because of my compulsive need to deduce what comes next. An impossible thing to do when it comes to Sophie Hannah books, she's thoroughly engaging and completely baffling at the same time. And, to some degree, her characters are often unlikable, it's strange when the author prevents you from empathizing with the protagonist by keeping them at a distance, it's a device that I've found throws me off in a terrific way. It forces me to stop trying to guess the outcome and to just enjoy the story. I don't do that enough. If you like dark & twisty but aren't much of a Britlit fan I'd recommend you check out either of Gillian Flynn's creepily captivating books. You're welcome in advance. 

R.I.F(f)

we all know reading is fundamental(ly free) and that I'm always reading a book. Now that I'm employed (but still poor - go figure) I've really been on a low-cost entertainment spree. I've been maxing out my unlimited dvd rentals (Dinner for Schmucks was funnier than I thought it would be, Frozen and The Canyon were taut suspense movies) and pretty much looting the library.

Between reconnaissance strolls through Barnes and Noble and recommendations from an author/blogger I'm in smit with (I'm sure I mentioned her before but in case I haven't her name is Jen Lancaster and she's hilarious) I have been finding new books and authors to read and it has netted me some great reads. I created a spot on the right hand side of this here blog, to tell you what I'm reading or have recently read and as I'm a book nerd, I assume others might be. Here are some recent stand-outs that I think you might enjoy (provided sweeping historical sagas written by depressed Russians/Icelanders with umlauts/priggish Victorians aren't your thing either). Here you go:

Incidentally, I've been into apocalyptic stories lately, maybe it's because I  feel like my world isn't in my control, maybe reading about others who have it worse makes me feel better, but this book blew me away. I saw it at Barnes and Noble after a useless coffee date and I knew instantly that I wanted to read it. I put in on reserve at the library and the minute I picked it up I started reading. There's a blurb on the back from Jacquelyn Mitchard where she said she read the book in one sitting. I laughed at that, I mean really, the book is 405 pages, how do you sit long enough to read 405 pages?  Well, I found out; a day and half is how long it takes to read 405 pages of incredibly suspenseful well written story telling. This is the rare Doomsday book that doesn't involve zombies. No. It's an avian flu pandemic and while it doesn't sound interesting Jacquelyn and I found it riveting and books don't make sounds anyway. This book is author Carla Buckley's first and I eagerly await her follow-up.

Oh did this book blow me away. The moment I closed it I looked for someone to discuss it with. What a great, twisty, gothic story this was. In 1990's London a reserved college student befriends a wildly eccentric classmate who lives in 'Great Expectations' like mansion with her brother and other artsy types. Reserved coed becomes completely enmeshed in the mansion's hedonistic patchwork 'family' and before you know it she's not so reserved and soon after everything has gone off the rails. A grievous act occurs (the book flap will tell you precisely), lies ensue and no one is left unscathed. The book slowly ratchets up the tension while throwing in a red herring or two just in case (like me) you're a smug mystery reader who's surely figured it all out. You haven't. This is Erin Kelly's first novel and another first time author who has me looking forward to novel number two.

This book was a pick up from Jen Lancaster. She recently posted a winter reading list and this was one of the books mentioned. This is a straight up thriller with screenplay written all over it. It was not the most cerebral book I've read but the story was engaging enough that I eagerly kept turning the pages and read it in two days or so. Four longtime friends in their late 20's/early 30's, bored, slightly disillusioned and not where they expected to be in life decide to shake things up. Shaking things up rarely turns out well though (unless you're Julia Roberts in any movie and have a killer soundtrack) and what seemed like a good idea just might end up destroying each of their lives. My only two complaints: the ending was overwrought and the author has Jenn (the only female in the story) constantly brushing her hair behind her ear as though that's the only tic he could think of to assign to a female. She doesn't 'chew her lip', 'bite on her thumbnail', 'bounce from foot to foot'. Nope, she gets nervous she brushes her hair behind her ear. Surely the author could have mixed it up a little. Maybe next time. Still a definite page turner that was enjoyable without having to be a complex mindfuck.

A slower than-Aaron-Sorkin-paced walk through the White House and still a juicy Beltway insider look at the things that go on over the 18 acres which encompass it. Nicolle Wallace (no apparent relation to CBS's Mike or his son FOX's Chris) was the communications chief under George W. Bush and a senior campaign advisor for McCain-Palin. That said, she doesn't use the words strategery or refudiate even once and no one ever shoots a moose! I found the writing to be sharp and witty, her 3 female characters are well thought out, they have individual traits while being smart and interesting. This is no David McCullough/David Halbertstam fare but it kept me entertained.

Your turn, what books do you want to recommend to me?

uhm really?

And how am I not going to read this? I'm thinking this is the perfect Kindle purchase.

not cool

How do I not own this book? I'm confused.

reading list

ok, who here has read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and how strongly do you recommend it?