Fiber Fool

As I figured would happen eventually, the reading slowed drastically. I haven’t updated you on my reads since February 7th - week 5! Here it is week 8 and in those three weeks I only have 4 books to mention. That makes me a bit sad, but I’m still ahead on my goal to read 62 books as these 4 are numbers 15-18 for 2013. Granted a handful of those are shorter works so really I hope my count is closer to 80 to account for the novellas and short non-fiction reads I sprinkle in here and there.

Given that I’m covering several weeks I’m going to start with the most recent and better reads.

A Cowboy’s Texas Rescue (Black Ops #3) by Beth Cornelison - 4 stars - WorldCat. A carjacking at a gas station by an escaped felon is foiled by an empty gas tank, freaky snow storm and a black ops man on leave to visit his father’s death bed. But it doesn’t come to an end easily. Chelsea Harris, the original victim finds herself in the trunk of her car listening to Jake Connelly fight it out with the felon, Brady, who had killed two officers during his initial escape. Eventually half-naked Chelsea ends up in the trunk with a concussed and now weaponless Jake who breaks them out. They head on foot to the nearest farmhouse, but the snow storm has taken out phone and power, leaving them with no way to contact the authorities.

This is the third and final book in the Black Ops Rescue series. I have not read the previous two titles and did not feel that I was lost because of that. While it is kind of hard to believe that all of the things that go wrong to amp up the suspense could take place in the same event, I enjoyed the book. The suspense was high and the attraction obvious. The suspense part of the equation was a bit stronger than the romance I’d say, but I appreciate that the book wasn’t highly political like many romantic suspense books I’ve read in the past. Do be aware that despite the title, this isn’t really a strongly cowboy/western book.

It is quite likely I’ll go back and read the other two titles in this series eventually.

I received a copy of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Curse of the Pharaohs (Amelia Peabody #2) by Elizabeth Peters - 4 stars - WorldCat. After several seasons away from active digs in Egypt, Peabody and her husband find themselves off to complete the dig of a colleague who suddenly passed. Peabody is convinced the death is suspicious and of course starts to dig not only into sand, but into the lives of those at the site trying to uncover what is really behind “the curse” the locals are going on about.

So far, both Amelia Peabody books I’ve read have been real slow starts for me. I don’t know if it is when I’m reading them or if that is just how they are written. It takes me a fair bit of time to get wrapped up in the book. That isn’t to say I don’t enjoy the beginnings. Despite the slow starts I adore Peter’s writing style and I almost always learn a couple new vocabulary words too (many Egyptology related of course). I’m very much looking forward to the next read in this series.

Lost Memories (Honky Tonk Hearts) by Sherri Thomas - 3 stars - Amazon. Darcy Brooks awakes in a hospital with amnesia and few clues of her prior life. It appears she had only just recently moved to town and no one has reported her missing. With no job history it was tough finding work, but once she finally gets hired on at a dude ranch she finds she loves the work — and her boss. But the sparks between Darcy and Nick cause frequent mistakes that have her afraid for her future.

The amnesia angle is nothing new and I didn’t find anything particularly unique about Darcy and Nick’s story. It was somewhat enjoyable, mostly due to the comedy of errors that seems to pop up whenever Nick is near Darcy.

For a quick, escapist fluff read it was fun, if not horribly unique.

Done with Menstrual Cramps by T.C. Hale - 3 stars - Amazon. I’m not certain how I feel about this book. On the surface, the theories presented appear to make a fair amount of sense, though many things in science did until they were disproved. But the humor with which the “facts” are presented kind erodes my sense of credibility. Add in that the author is a male comedian who has never experienced menstrual cramps, is not a health professional, and there is not a bibliography or any citations so one can do some further research into these theories and you can color me skeptical.

The author presents a series of self-tests one should go through to diagnose how the body system is out of balance. These tests can then be backed up with symptoms you may be experiencing beyond the menstrual cramps. Then methodologies to bring your body back into balance are presented. These include diet changes and likely supplements of various types. The tests do require some special equipment, some of which is relatively low cost and others which are not so affordable. I will confess to having not gone through the self-tests because my budget is severely tight at the moment and I cannot squeeze out the money to buy a blood pressure cuff or glucometer and test strips. So, my thoughts on the book are formed purely from the reading.

If at some point I am able to run the tests and follow through on what appears to be the right methodology I’ll update this review with my experience.

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That’s it! That’s all I’ve read in the past three weeks. Well, I’m nearly 1/2 done with another NetGalley read and about a 1/4 of the way through a cozy mystery I checked out from the library. I also sort of read a cookbook in one afternoon and am debating if it is worth giving it more of my time or not. I’m not certain to count it as “read” or not yet. I also likely have a fair bit of non-fiction reading in my future for some freelancing projects that may be coming my way.

And a good chunk of this afternoon may be dedicated to knitting and reading. We’ll have to see.

How about you? Have you had any exceptional reads these past few weeks? Or any interesting non-fiction titles to mention?

Several weeks ago I saw a pin on Pinterest for Smitten Kitchen’s Gingerbread Dutch Baby from her recently released cookbook posted on My Daily Morsel. I was intrigued. Anything that uses molasses and gingerbread spices is right up my alley! I knew I liked the nutrition info of my whole wheat German pancake recipe already, so I altered it rather than following the dutch baby recipe.

To boost the protein of the German pancake we frequently serve it with yogurt. Sometimes we use Greek yogurt and a favorite homemade jam or fruit butter. Other times we use a locally made Australian style yoghurt, Noosa. Most often I’d say we use the strawberry rhubarb Noosa, but when I thought about became obsessed with a gingerbread version I couldn’t get the honey Noosa out of my mind.

So a week ago or so we gave it a go and *loved* it. Though for some reason we had a fair bit of sticking going on in the stainless steel skillet I generally use. I don’t know if that skillet is up for a light scouring or if the sugar and molasses added to the batter is to blame. But when we declared the recipe a success. We set out to make it again on this past snowy Sunday morning so I could take pictures, but we opted for the new environmentally friendly non-stick skillet we got for Christmas thanks to my grandparents.

The non-stick worked really well. In fact, there was enough slip that I could have put it on a platter to cut and serve it. Though if you compare the final product of this version to my original whole wheat version you’ll see this one is lacking the varied topography. I can’t say for certain that is due to the non-stick. It could also perhaps be due to over blending since taking pictures slowed things down a bit. But I’m thinking it was the non-stick. We did miss the crevices. Though it still tasted great and was a wonderful brunch for a snowy Sunday morning.

Whole Wheat Gingerbread German Pancake

Inspired by The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, Adapted from Designedly, Kristi
Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons butter, unsalted
• 3 eggs
• 2 Tablespoons blackstrap molasses
• 1/2 cup 1% low fat milk
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1-1/2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger, ground
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
• 1/4 teaspoon clove, ground
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• toppings such as powdered sugar, maple syrup or yogurt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Once preheated, place 9-10” skillet with butter into the oven to melt the butter.
2. In a blender, whip eggs until light colored. Add remaining ingredients except butter and blend until mixed well.
3. Pour batter into preheated pan with with melted butter. Bake 15-20 minutes or until the pancake is puffed and slightly darkened.
4. Remove from oven, cut and serve promptly.
5. Top as desired and enjoy!

It goes together super quickly when using the blender and there are little other dishes dirtied unless, like me, you prepped the dry and wet ingredients before adding them to the blender. But even that only dirties on to two extra pieces.

If you don’t have a blender you can just use a whisk or a handheld electric mixer. The result might be a tad denser, but until recently I always did my German pancake by hand.

The past 6 weeks or so around here have been really rough. I think partly due to winter doldrums and partly to things life has dished out. Others close to me have also been having rough times. Everyone around me is needing lifting up and no one is able to lift me up. There is a sprinkling of good things going on that have me quite excited, but not enough to improve the stress levels significantly. Add onto it snow cover (of which I really am quite thankful for as we need the moisture) and no longer having a gym membership or any sort of cardio equipment at home and I’m not getting to run as regularly as I need to manage my stress and get good sleep. So, it has been even harder than usual to find the positive. But I’m trying.

I’m re-working this week’s theme a tad to put a more positive spin on it - 10 Things I’m Looking Forward To About Spring. As I sit down to write this I’m not certain I’ll come up with 10, but we’ll see how far I get.

1. No more sub-freezing runs!
2. No more excuses such as snowy and icy conditions to keep me from running.
3. The return of a bit more color in our immediate world.
4. Getting my hands out in the dirt.
5. Spending time out on the patio with the dogs, a good book and some knitting or spinning.
6. Hiking some of the great trails in the area, especially at Bobcat Ridge and Soapstone Prairie.
7. Being able to get out and log some volunteer hours cleaning up a natural area I adopted.
8. Biking for transportation more regularly.
9. Firing up the grill again. Eggplant never tastes as good as when it is grilled!
10. More interesting photo subjects abound with buds on trees, blooming flowers, green grass and bright blue skies.

Hey, I did it! And I hardly cheated (though 1 & 2 are probably close enough to the same to have been combined into 1). How about you? What are you looking forward to about spring?

About eleven years ago or so I set up a YahooGroup, printed some posters and starting planting my butt on a couch with my knitting in hand at a near by coffee shop in hopes of meeting some fellow knitters close to my age. I had been knitting at the main LYS at that time, but I only met much older women who were not the same type of knitter I was. After a couple of weeks of knitting alone a few people started dropping in. I never dreamt in a million years what an impact that simple act would have on my life eleven years later!

I’m only in touch with one of the very first members of the group, Ashley, who no longer lives here but has occasionally been able to visit due to work duties. Amanda is probably the next longest member of the group who is still attending our weekly gatherings. Over the years the group has experienced some very interesting people and situations. Eventually we tired of the abuse - expected free knitting lessons, free child care, outright insults of knitters when we were in the majority, people who came but refused to support the businesses that hosted us, etc. We eventually closed ranks and began meeting at houses instead of coffee shops.

The advantages of meeting in a home rather than in public were so much greater than I had imagined. I almost wish we had started doing so earlier. Though I’m afraid if we had our group wouldn’t be what it is now. We can talk freely about whatever topics we wish with no worries of offending someone with our views on controversial topics - politics, religion, the usual. Everyone knows everyone well. We can eat and drink what we like - including sharing homemade goodies. We can keep whatever hours work for that week’s hostess. And really the list goes on.

For the past couple years we’ve had a very generous default hostess, Dee. She houses us nearly every week as she has a house of her own with no one to inconvenience with our presence. When she is out of town or hosting other guests I often step in and host since I am only inconveniencing DH. There is one problem with that tactic - Dee never gets a week off combined with enjoying our group. So, last week when I was to have the house to myself on a Monday night I offered to be the temporary “clubhouse” for the week.

I always love playing hostess, even if I tend to get myself overexcited and stressed with all the things I want to do in terms of cooking and cleaning. But this time I think I managed it quite well. I only made a dip and mini doughnuts. I did have veggies to wash and cut up, but it really only took me about 20 minutes on the previous afternoon so was no big deal. The rest was bought - cheese, crackers, pistachios, tea. Of course everyone in the group is generous so there were contributions from several of the guests as well. Dee even brought a wonderful Mediterranean spiced nut and coconut mix - and I really should ask her for the recipe. As for the cleaning, I make sure there isn’t a ring around the toilet and that any dog hair bunnies are not bigger than the actual dogs and leave it at that because these women have become family. A little dust or clutter is not something to stress about.

As usual, there was way too much food, especially once you added in the contributions of others. It left a bit of an aftermath. But really I had everything put right within about 30 minutes of everyone leaving - including almost all of the dishes! I really need to give Dee a week off more often! Of course I’m not sure many would welcome my dining room come July with it’s western exposure and lack of AC - at least Dee’s house is well shaded. But, there are a few months to go before we get there.

I’m so grateful for this special group of women. We cover a broad spectrum of ages and life experiences. But we all have an analytical bent to our thinking (several are engineers, a scientist, an accountant, researchers etc.) so conversations around the table, be they about knitting or not, are always stimulating. It is also a nice break from other obligations during the week and none of us need to plan dinner on Monday nights. Plus, it gives us something to look forward to after getting through that first work day of the week!

Do you have a special group of people you gather with regularly? A crafty group, or book club, or dinner club? I just read this week about a gardening group that rotates each week. They share food and drink and then get to work in the hostess’s garden. That seems like a fun idea. What makes your group special to you?

Phew, last week was a bit of blur. Sorry for disappearing! I hope you all had a lovely Valentine’s Day if you celebrate it. We kept it low key here.

This week, I’m grateful for:

1. Brandon, my new four legged running partner. Granted, there is a bit of a learning curve. I don’t think I’ll take him on every run at this point. I kept the first run on Saturday shorter than my normal, but I maintained my usual pace so that is saying something I guess. I see corgi’s out and about in our neighborhood frequently, but I’ve never seen one running. I wonder how unusual it is to have a corgi running partner? Hmmm…
2. I can’t be grateful for Brandon and not Emma. While she may not be up to going for a run with me, she is always there to greet me with a wag (and sometimes a shoe) when I return.
3. DH’s humoring me on Friday evening by going on the Friday Foodie Walk in Old Town. It wasn’t quite what I had imagined, but it was a fairly fun, low-cost way to take in Old Town on the last weekend of winter lights. And, we brought home a new ingredient to play with in the kitchen which will no doubt provide hours more entertainment in the coming months!

How about you? What are you grateful for this week?

Oh, and Carole, the brains behind the ongoing Ten on Tuesday, is on a blog break this week so there is no official 10 on Tuesday. But if you have a theme you’d love to hear my take on, leave your suggestion in the comments and I’ll pick one for tomorrow’s post! If there are no suggestions I’ll probably be on a blog break tomorrow as well.