17 posts tagged “books”

My first Quiche Lorraine. I told Dan what I was making and he said "huh?" I told him it was bacon and egg pie and he was sold. The recipe comes from a big pastry cookbook I found at Borders:

Pastry Cook

Catherine Atkinson

And here is Lorraine!! :)

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The pastry dough was really easy to make, big shortcut with the food processor. All the ingredients hadn't incorporated, though, and I had to add quite a bit of water to make it into an actual rollable dough.

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Using my new quiche pan I bought. Having never used one before, I didn't know the bottom came out to help release it from the pan. Final product:

It was really yummy too!! I made it according to the recipe, so it was heavy (almost  two full cups of cream!! and topped with butter) but it was still light and fluffy in texture from the eggs in it. And delicious, so that's what matters I guess.

I also made these cupcakes to take to my office for my birthday. I don't like much of anything with pumpkin, but thought I would give these Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes a try. They are from the November 2009 issue of Rachael Ray Magazine. They turned out very pretty and I actually ate one and liked it! The office rejoiced and said my birthday was now once a week. Something tells me they just want more baked goods.

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I still haven't posted pictures of my stew and soup-making escapades! Sorry!

Thanksgiving is at my house this year! Looking forward to trying out some new recipes and maybe modifying some old favorites.

I got two new cookbooks for my birthday too! Dan got me the classic Julia Child: Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Volume One (1) (Vol 1)

Julia Child

Dan's mom also got me another great classic: The Joy of Cooking.

Joy of Cooking: 75th Anniversary Edition - 2006

Irma S. Rombauer

I had a great birthday and am looking forward to a great fall and winter season!

...and its name is Barnes & Noble. And Half Price Books. Or [enter a bookstore's name here]. Some women are shoe people. And when it comes to apparel and accessories, I'm definitely a handbag person. But my worst money offense is buying books. And lately, it's been cookbooks.

I don't know what it is about a new cookbook that gets me really excited! I'm obsessed with the bargain section at B&N that houses JUST cookbooks. I can't stay away from it!! I've dipped so low as to copy a recipe out of one said cookbooks just so I wouldn't buy it. I. Love. Cookbooks. Maybe I should write a book about loving cookbooks and then recommend some good ones. Hm.

I've gotten much better about not buying so many other books; I love fiction, non-fiction, memoir, biography, etc.But thanks to my new best friend PaperbackSwap, I can easily get books I want for free!! You sign up for free, post some books you're willing to get rid of, and every book you send to someone gives you one credit. You only have to pay for shipping the book (media mail through USPS) to the person who requests it. So it's averaging to about $2.38 per book, depending on weight. But when you request a book from someone else, it only costs you one of your credits! I love this service and have been swapping books for a few months now.

My husband appreciates that I can feed my book obsession without blowing lots and lots of money. I also spend quite a bit of time at our library, and lucky us we live a 4 minute walk away! It's smaller, so sometimes I have to do an inter-library loan to get a book or CD that I want, but all in all it's great. AND the library has some great...you guessed it..COOKBOOKS!

Ok. My one free night this week will probably consist of an easy recipe I know by heart, but that's ok. My other books are wanting some attention. And Glee starts tonight!

I think it's weird that even though this is my personal online space, I can't always blog about the things that I really want to. Like if I want to gripe about work or spout off about something that pissed me off, people can read it and that may not always be good.

I realize that I could make a post "private" but then I feel like I'm cheating. Even though I have no readers. Like I said. It's weird.

Dan got a job! He's working as a Physical Therapy Aide at a PT clinic in Johnston. Basically when he's not at school he'll be working there. It will be nice to have just a little extra cash from his job to help with expenses. And it's in the field he wants to work in. And I think it will look great on his resume and applications for PT school. And he's a pretty cool guy so who wouldn't want to work with him? He was excited because he learned how to do an ultrasound today. You know, science-y stuff I don't really know or care about but he tells me about anyway ;) That's ok, I tell him about the great cookbooks and other reading material I find so I'm sure we're par for the course.

I'm reading Water For Elephants right now. I never thought I'd choose a book about a circus train during the depression but it really is interesting. I've flown through the first half and so far I'd recommend it.

Is it weird I'm already thinking about what I want to do for Christmas cards? We made postcards for our wedding announcements and they turned out great, so I'm thinking we might want to do that again. We can put our own photos on it and stuff so it's kind of fun.

Long day today. PR job 8-5 and retail job 6-10. Yay bills.

I've decided I really want to write and publish a novel. Based upon my honeymoon and perhaps the first year of marriage. Is it bad that I've only been married 3.5 weeks and I already have material for a book!? 

I'm getting marrried in 39....wait....what!?!? 39 days!! That's. In. Sane. I'm so ready for everything to be over, though. I'm really excited for the big day, not so excited for all the little days leading up to it. I'm trying to take it one day at a time. Whew.

I'm probably more excited for Europe!!! in 46 days. SO ready to be back in the Mediterranean.

Dan and I get our new place on July 1st. There is a lot happening in the next couple of months!

Sidenote: I finished reading My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Holy moly twist ending! Waiting for the film to be released later this month. I'm now on to Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. This book is also being made into a movie. Meryl Streep as Julia Child, can't wait!!

Went to the midnight screening of Dan Brown's/Ron Howard's 'Angels and Demons' last night. I loved looking at the Roman scenery (and got a little more excited to visit in July!!). They cut a lot out of the book, but I'm sure if they had tried to keep everything in there, the movie would have been too long. I still really enjoyed it!

If you haven't read the book, YOU MUST DO THIS. It was one of the best books I've ever read. I think I might actually read it again :)

Also, saw a trailer for a new Meryl Streep and Amy Adams movie "Julie and Julia." Looks adorable. (Seriously adorable. Watch the trailer here. Watch it.)I bargained with Dan and said I'd sit through Transformers 2 if he went to J&J with me :) I love negotiating!

I know I've been on the Bill Bryson train lately, but I just can't get enough of his stuff. It's hilarious. I was crying last night from laughing. My roommates thought I was in hysterics because I was stressed out about planning my wedding. Nope. Just happy that Bill Bryson knows what it feels like to ride in the car across the Midwest. My favorite bit from last night's reading, from The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-town America, by Bill Bryson (on vacation driving with his family):

So for a long time now, I've thought about what I really want to do with my life. What in this world makes me happy? What should I be spending my limited number of days on this earth doing? The first answer is traveling. And an incredibly-almost-neck-and-neck second answer is writing about those travels. I want to be a travel writer. And if I throw in some PR and some music and some painting in there, my life will be complete. But I'll settle for the traveling part.

I love Bill Bryson's books. He's an incredible witty and careful writer, and I admire his style very much. PLUS: he's a native Iowan (from Des Moines) AND a Drake alum (go Bulldogs!). So when I found out that he was giving the Bucksbaum lecture tonight at Drake, I really wanted to go.

My future mother-in-law (also a Drake alum) calls me on Monday and says she loves Bill Bryson, she wants to come see his lecture and hang out with me. So today! I get to: go to a Q&A with Mr. Bryson, attend his lecture and a booksigning. I'm really excited, and I think today will provide some good in-law bonding time. I'm so excited!

I finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy this weekend. It wasn't bad, but it just sort of....ended. The entire book was this incredible journey of survival, then the last ten pages were...anti-climactic? Maybe it's just me. My mom and I were in Barnes and Noble this weekend and she made me buy some "fluffy" reads because she thinks I'm reading books that are too depressing (The Reader, The Road). So now I'm on to The Little Lady Agency. Talk about a one-eighty :)