What I'm Reading - 10/14 Edition

It's "Wordless Wednesday" over on the 'riffic blog, but this poor little thing is feeling all neglected, so I thought I'd throw her a bone.

So: I'm a voracious reader. Like, I am always reading something. I don't go anywhere that is further than my parents' without taking a book with me (and sometimes, I even have a book with me for that trip). I've always been this way. I love to read just about anything and everything I can get my hands on. If I had a million dollars, I'd probably spend half of it at the bookstore.

We're just about packing for our trip to Chicago next week (9 more days! whoo!) and so last week I ordered some books from Amazon. Picking out books is a process that can take up to 3 hours, even when I do it online -- in fact, when I buy books online, it's even worse than when I'm in the store, because of the research. The internet is dangerous for hypochondriacs and info-holics. In the store, I just pick up what looks good.

Anyway, here is what I ended up ordering:

• Syren by Angie Sage
• Scat by Carl Hiaasen
• The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (which I have already started reading)*
  

SPOILER ALERT! These are all children's books. Well, at least one of them is technically "young adult," but the point is, I am not the target market. Yet, over and over again, I find myself buying books out of this section of the bookstore. And very rarely, in only a tiny fraction of cases, am I ever disappointed with what I select.

I think the reason why is that, as a general rule, kids' books just have better stories. And when you read for enjoyment, for the sheer pleasure of it, the stuff you want to read is the stuff that has the wonderful characters and the delicious flights of fancy. Harry Potter, anyone? Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Stuart Little? The Phantom Tollbooth?

That isn't to say that I don't read "adult" books. Sue Grafton is one of my top-five favorite writers, as is Carl Hiaasen -- I read his YA novels in the first place because I love the rest of his stuff so much. I can't get enough of Laurie Notaro and Hollis Gillespie. There are more than one of Oprah's Book Club selections on my multitude of bookshelves. I love Terry Pratchett, and I will totally cop to owning Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code. And believe me, I have read every single Jackie Collins novel ever written: you can't get more adult than that.

But I keep coming back to the kids' books, which is why Shae already has a bookcase in her room, filled with things she is not "allowed" to touch because she is not ready. These were my books, which I am handing down to her. A complete Series of Unfortunate Events in hardcover. Special edition Winnie-the-Pooh books with color versions of Ernest Shepard's original illustrations. An annotated edition of Charlotte's Web that was a gift to my husband for Christmas 1994, the first year we were dating.

Boy, am I glad she likes to read.

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In case you are interested, here are some of the children's / YA novels that I have read in the past year or so that I have really enjoyed:

• Magyk, Flyte, Physik, and Queste by Angie Sage -- I have also picked up Syren, book 5 in this series, but haven't yet read it. A boy magician and his magical friends, but this is not Harry Potter. It's set in a more medieval place and time. Very charming, and significantly less Messianically and self-importantly written than Rowling. (And bear in mind that I absolutely love Harry Potter, but some of the writing at the end gets ... tortuous.)
  
• Rick Riordan's "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series -- About a boy who is literally a demigod, with a Greek god for a parent. I have always sort of dug the whole tempestuousness (and incestuousness, strangely) of Greek mythology, and setting these stories in modern times doesn't hurt the fantasy at all. I've read the first four books; just waiting for The Last Olympian to come out in paperback to finish the set.
  
• The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo. Winner of the 2003 Newbery Medal. Such a sweet, sweet story about a ... well, everything you need to know about what the book is about is right there in the title. This was made into a movie in 2008, and one of these days I will get around to seeing it, but I don't feel like I'm in a hurry, because the book was just so fantastic. I can't wait until Shae is old enough and patient enough for chapter books, so I can read this with her.
• 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers. This is one of those books I picked up at the bookstore because the cover intrigued me. Very Dahl-esque. It started a bit slow for me, and I had a hard time reading much at a time in the beginning, but it was such a treat at the end. Haven't picked up anything else by Moers yet, but I have several of his books in my queue.

If you find anything good, let me know! I am always looking for new authors!


* = Haven't finished it yet, still only halfway through, but I am expecting to pick up the second book in this series, Catching Fire, before I leave for Chicago, if that tells you anything at all about how I feel about this particular choice, which I had some reservations about originally. I first heard about this author via this NPR story. This is heavier stuff than I am used to, kind of scary even, but it's kind of ... not refreshing, exactly, but liberating, maybe? Enlightening, definitely.

Diet is "DIE" with a T: Week 1

Oh, God, I started a diet again this week.

You will notice two things about that sentence: the general grumbliness, and my use of the word "again."

I am constantly on a diet. Sometimes they are "real" diets, with the express purpose of losing actual weight. Other times, they are "lifestyle" diets, where I am eating out of the cupboard and packing a lunch to save money or empty out the pantry.

This one is a combination of both: I am trying to drop some poundage while at the same time rack up some extra cash. Christmas is coming fast (as is the company holiday party). Once a week or so, I'll check in here with my successes, failures, ideas, and bitching.

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My biggest problem with diets is the 3:00 hour. I always get hungry at 3:00 or so -- I don't know if it's the after-lunch sugar crash, or a dip in my Circadian rhythms, or what. Since I'm going to be packing my lunch for a little while (at least until I get back into the swing and can better judge what I can and can't eat off the fast food dollar menus), I am trying to plan for that time of day strategically.

Goals for my afternoon snack: no longer be so hungry that anything and everything in the vending machine looks good, including that dusty pack of mixed nuts that has been there since approximately the dawn of time, and also to stay around or under 5 points. (Oh, yeah, I'm doing a sort of modified Weight Watchers, using online tools to calculate points, plus dragging some old guides out of the dingy heretofore uncharted recesses of my bookshelves.)

Here is what I am eating for my 3:00 snack today:

• Town House wheat crackers x5
• Laughing Cow light Swiss cheese x1 wedge
• Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh cracked pepper shaved turkey x3 slices
• Green seedless grapes x½ cup

I'm going to plate this up nicely and have it with some iced tea. A nice balance of carbs, fat, and protein to help me make it until dinnertime. That snack is 4 points. It's small, but surprisingly satisfying.

And because I am an amateur foodie, and also a nice person dammit, let me offer the following alternatives instead: red seedless grapes or ½ cup cantaloupe or honeydew cubes instead of green grapes; shaved ham (if you use a very low fat lunchmeat variety) instead of turkey; light garlic and herb or French onion cheese wedge (if you don't have an important client meeting) instead of the Swiss flavor; nine honey-wheat flavored Club Snack Sticks crackers instead of the Town House.

If you have points to spare and want to "bulk" this up, you can have 6 slices of turkey, or switch to a full-fat wedge of Laughing Cow original, or add a packet of Lipton Spring Vegetable cup-a-soup, for an extra point each. If you need to cut points, eliminate the cheese or the turkey for a 1-point savings.

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Disclosure: I am not being paid to advertise any products. I recommend these particular brands because I already have them in my cabinets, and I know the point values for them. If you like something else, or have a suggestion, let me know!

2010 Cupcake Calendar: June

Some pictures previously blogged here.

So, apparently I am a "grid" scrapper -- everything is pretty much squarish. I think I am okay with that. I keep trying to add more layers, more "stuff," but (especially for this application) it seems so busy if I have more than a couple of layers. I've decided that I want to focus on the pictures, not the fancy designing, when I am making the calendars.

Good think I learned how to work that camera.

EDITED @ 8:02 pm -- picture size.

EDITED 11/03/09: Compared to other months' pages, these pictures are too big. I'm going to be adjusting the sizing and reposting at a later date.

2010 Cupcake Calendar: July

Some pictures previously blogged here and here.

I got on some kind of roll last night, and ended up putting together two pages. (Like I might have said before: feast or famine, people.) I'm not quite as confident about this July page as I am about the August page, but then again, I like it in different ways and for different reasons. I'm at about 95% confidence, so I think I'm going to keep it, but I can be convinced otherwise if you think I should make changes.

2010 Cupcake Calendar: August

Some photos previously blogged here.

Since I started this digital scrapbooking experiment, I have started and abandoned way more projects than I ever finished -- I would guess that I begin at least four pages for every one that I actually complete. Sometimes, it's lack of inspiration, or maybe I can't get everything to turn out the way I pictured it, or perhaps I'm just not as good or as patient or as creative as I thought.

This page, though? This is what I had in mind when I took up this hobby. The pictures are a great foundation, I think -- and even though I bitched about it at the time, sort of, the Anniversary Camera turned out to be absolutely invaluable to me -- and once I found the background paper, this layout virtually assembled itself.

I hope I can manage to get the rest of the 2010 Cupcake Calendar pages to look this good. (And I have to get to work on the Combo Calendar ... oh my head.)

Manicotti Ravioli Lasagna

I made this ... thing ... for dinner yesterday and I'm still not sure what to call it. It was supposed to be a sort of rustic manicotti type thing, but it looked like more of a ravioli, and it totally tasted like a lasagna. In whatever case, it was good, and we'll be having leftovers for dinner. And since I hate leftovers and try to avoid them whenever possible, that is saying something.

Also: this is probably a bit "unusual" in the ingredient selection, but I was trying to make the filling with only two ingredients at first. It didn't work out quite like I had planned. Still turned out delicious with the adjustments, though. (You could probably use plain chopped spinach if you wanted to in this recipe.)

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MANICOTTI RAVIOLI LASAGNA
Makes 16 stuffed noodles (about 5 servings)
Prep time: 30 minutes. Cook time: 45 minutes.

8 lasagna noodles
15 ounces ricotta cheese
10 ounce package creamed spinach
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 egg
pasta sauce, to taste (will need at least ½ cup)

• Boil a large pot of salted water (add olive oil, if desired).
• Cook lasagna noodles until done.
• Drain and cool until they are able to be handled.
• Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375°F.
• Combine ricotta cheese, creamed spinach, ½ cup mozzarella, seasoning, and egg.
• Stir until well-combined.
• Cover the bottom of a 9"x13" baking dish with ¼ cup pasta sauce and set aside.
• Cut noodles in half width-wise (to get two noodles about 5" long).
• Place a heaping tablespoon of ricotta mixture in the center of each noodle.
• Fold noodle to make an approximate "ravioli."
• Repeat to make 16 finished "ravioli."
  
• Arrange stuffed noodles in prepared pan -- if you put them in so the ruffled edges face the long way in the pan, you should be able to fit 16 finished "ravioli" in the pan with no overlaps and no gaps.
• Spread finished noodles with sauce (I used about 1 cup) and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese.
• Cover pan tightly with foil and bake at 375°F for 30 minutes.
• Remove foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until cheese is browned.
• Let sit about 10 minutes before serving with salad and crusty bread.

Possible January Calendar Page

... but I just don't know. It looks ... amateur, no? I mean, the kids are adorable, but the crafting is ... not so much. At least I'm getting back into it, anyway.