Book Club - Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

"They could see Ruth's eyes on them and know that they were the first things she had seen in this life; and they could hope that some part of her might remember that."

"Aloha wale, e Rachel, kaua, auwe!

For Adult Summer Reading Club - By An Author Of A Different Gender

Penticton (and Peachland)

Book Club - Hunger by Roxane Gay

"There's no shelter or safety or escape from the cruel stares and comments, the too-small seats, the too-small everything for your too-big body." 

"Even the happiest moments of my life are overshadowed by my body and how it doesn't fit anywhere." 

 "I am as healed as I am ever going to be."

For Adult Summer Reading Club- Autobiography or Memoir

So toast

I am slowly wrapping up my cookbook review/shelf purge I started in the summer of 2015.  I've cooked from more than 130 books, gotten rid of close to 100 more, and I'm glad to be almost done.

I'd like to go back to some of the ones that I've reviewed and cook more from them.  And I need to get the shelf a little more bare than it already is - eventually the room that the bookshelf is in will become The Girl's room, and the bookcase might stay for her to use, so I will have to find a home for all the books elsewhere in the house. So fewer books would definitely be easier.

I have gone back to Chrissy Teigen's book a couple of times since I wrote about it on Instagram, and made a couple more dishes.  One was the Cinnamon Toast/Dark Chocolate, and whoa, it was so good.  I had previously made her Salted Peanut Butter/Carmel/Grapes toast which was also amaze.

This set me off on a few days of toasting it up -

This one was boring, but we had bread that needed to be eaten.  Mozza, a sprinkle of salt, and some hot sauce.

The aforementioned CT toast - she makes a butter/sugar/cinnamon spread for the toast.  I had some cinnamon and sugar already mixed together leftover from baking, so I used that.  The combo with chocolate is unreal.

This one is super ugly, but brie cheese is not a pretty melter.  I made this at work - toast with a microwaved scrambled egg, ham and brie cheese, finished with cayenne pepper.

The standard avocado toast, eaten by The Mister and me whenever we buy a bag of avocados and suddenly the kids no longer like avocados, so we have to eat large amounts of avocado toast to try to use them up before they go bad but we never do.

Sunday Dinner - Chicken Poppers, Green Beans and Homemade Ice Cream

The hot weather lately has turned Sunday Dinners into mostly no cook affairs -salads, raw veggies, breads, maybe some rotisserie chicken or sliced meat.

I am NOT in any way looking forward to Fall or Winter, and this Summer has somewhat completely sucked and cooking has fallen by the wayside, along with most things representing an orderly life.

I managed to pull it together long enough to make a tasty Sunday dinner of chicken, green beans, fried potatos and ice cream for dessert.

I've had my eye on these sweet potato chicken poppers and they were easy and delicious.  Even The Girl liked them, and the list of food that she likes is very short.

These  Chinese dry fried green beans were also tasty and after we convinced The Boy to try them because green veggies rock, he ate a big helping.

For dessert I attempted to cross something off my mighty life list - make ice cream at home.  When I added this to my list I assumed that one day I would buy an ice cream maker, but that most likely won't ever happen.  I'd seen a few posts this summer about 2 ingredient ice cream that doesn't require an ice cream maker.  You mix a can of condensed milk with whipped cream and freeze it. 
I added some vanilla and a pinch of salt, and mixed in some raspberries from the backyard.  There weren't quite as many berries to pick as I'd hoped, so it wasn't as rasperry-ish as I'd hoped.  The recipe said it would be ready to eat in 5 to 6 hours, and when I checked it right before bedtime at hour 5 it was too soupy to be eaten, so we had to wait until the next night to try it. 

Honestly, it was ok, but I don't know that I would make it again.  Most of it is still sitting in the freezer, and I'm guessing I'll be tossing it out soon. 

Book Club - Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro

"The worst thing, I gathered, the worst thing that could happen in this life was to have people laughing at you."

"She believed in burglars."

"Well groomed girls frightened me to death.  I didn't like to even go near them, for fear I would be smelly.  I felt there was a radical difference, between them and me, as if we were made of different substances."


Adult Summer Reading Club - A Banned or Challenged Book

Book Club - Amulet by Kau Kibuishi

 " But more than that, I wish I knew what to do. I wish I wasn't alone." 

"You're not." 

 Adult Summer Reading Club - Graphic Novel or Comic Book

Book Club - Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs

' "....no need to dwell on hypothetical unpleasantries..." '

' "Doubt is the pinprick in the life raft." '

' "My brothers taught me a hard lesson.  No one can hurt you as badly as the people you love." '

Adult Summer Reading Club - Young Adult/Juvenile

Snapshot - Week 32 2017

It's been a tough summer, with the fires and smoke and some other stuff going on.  It was so nice to see the smoke clear and to get out for a walk with these weasels. 

Rocky Road Peanut Clusters

I made these last month for a co-workers birthday.  It was too hot to use the oven and I just love the classic chocolate-butterscotch combination.

It doesn't quite beat out my family favorite Peanut Noodle Things, but the marshmallows are fun and I am super addicted to peanuts right now, so there's that too.  

These store well in the fridge, if you make a triple batch, like I did.....

Rocky Road Peanut Clusters

Vancouver - June 2017

Book Club - Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

'I shook my head and smiled at him.  He spoke again, slowly this time, and though his words sounded the same as before and meant nothing to me, they now sounded sweet.  They were the sound of a human voice.  There is no sound like this in all the world.'

Adult Summer Reading Club - Something You Read During Adolescence

Kale Caesar Salad and a trick to revive stale bread

I have a very on again/off again relationship with kale.  I go crazy for it for a while, with one or two recipes, then get tired of it because I'm only making one or two recipes so I take a break, and then I remember how good it is and crave it all over again.

The kale at the market looked so good I just had to buy a bag, and then on Instagram I saw someones photo of a kale caesar salad, and yes.  YESSSSSSSSSSSS.

I didn't have any romaine lettuce at home, only butter, so it wasn't truly a caesar salad, I suppose, but it was delicious.  

Two things I did that made it the most amazing and I will do all the other times are:

First, after you wash and dry and cut your kale, put it in a bowl, and add a small splash of olive oil, and massage it in to the kale, then let it sit for an hour-ish.  This will tenderize the kale a bit so it's not so tough.

Second, make an insanely wonderful dressing like this one from Simply Recipes.  So good.

That same Saturday market, The Mister bought a baguette from one of the bakery stands for Sunday dinner.  We slacked when we got home and didn't wrap it well enough, and Sunday afternoon I realized it was getting stale.  I turned to Google for help and found such an amazing trick from Bon Appetit - basically drench your bread in water and bake it.  I was hesitant to try it - it seems too kooky - but what did I have to lose?  It worked perfectly, of course.  Brilliant.