Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and me that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.
Always trying to read more Hoffman.

Yay! More Saga!

More romance.

What did you get this week? Share your loot below!

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Teaser Tuesday- I See You Made An Effort by Annabelle Gurwitch

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
"I shouldn't be shopping like this because I'm on the declining side of my earning potential. It's possible that in the remaing part of my life, I will earn less than the money I made up until this point."
pg 29 I See You Made An Effort by Annabelle Gurwitch

Sunday, October 25, 2015

What To Eat This Week



Cold Soba Noodle Salad-A family favorite. 

 Hawaiian BBQ chicken over rice-terrible. I marinated the chicken in this marinade for a day but it didn't taste like anything. Frank's Red Hot saved the day for me. 
Bulgogi with rice and roasted broccoli-Very delicious. I'll make this again.






Dinner Out




Halloween Party


Dinner Out


Steak

 What's on your menu this week?

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Rain Is Not My Indian Name by Cynthia Leitich Smith

I found Rain Is Not My Indian Name on a list of diverse books. I shouldn't have been surprised that it was by Cynthia Leitich Smith. I've been a fan of her books for a while now. I'm so glad I picked Rain Is Not My Indian Name up. Though a slim book, it was a wonderful story with fantastic characters.

Rain is grieving the loss of her best friend and her mom. Rain doesn't think she has much to offer the world. She's not pretty. Galen, her best friend, understood her and without him, she's alone. Rain retreats into her own world. Preferring to stay home and clean than to socialize with other kids.  But when her aunt starts a camp for Native kids, Rain offers to take photos for her brother's girlfriend's newspaper. Slowly, Rain leaves her own world and realizes that the rest of the world has been waiting for her to come back.

I loved Rain. She's thoughtful, artistic, and innocent. She's just finding her way in the world and still so unsure of who she is. I also loved that she was mixed and talked about how she felt about that. I also enjoyed the other people in Rain's world. Her brother and his girlfriend are patient with Rain and wait til she is ready to talk about her losses but they also encourage her to go back to things she enjoyed like photography.This would be a great book for teens.

Another great book from Cynthia Leitich Smith. I would highly recommend Rain Is Not My Indian Name. Others who shared their thoughts on Rain Is Not My Indian Name: The Cazzy Files, gr8 reads, Kim's Book Reviews, and Reading In Color.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and me that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.



Also super excited for this one too.

What did you get this week? Claire's got the linky this week.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Teaser Tuesday-Rain Is Not My Indian Name by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
"Three years ago, the local air force base closed. Grampa Berghoff took early retirement, and Dad was transferred to South Korea (before Guam)"
pg 19 Rain is not my Indian Name by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Monday, October 19, 2015

Unprocessed by Megan Kimble

I added Unprocessed to my library queue because I liked the idea of eating unprocessed. Kimble did it while trying to live a normal life. She did't move to a farm or start a garden on her terrace. So I wanted to see how she did it, living her normal life. Overall, I enjoyed Unprocessed and gained some good knowledge from it.

Kimble lives in Tuscon, Az, works part time and is a student part time. As a single woman, she has some time to devote to food making (baking bread, making chocolate, making plant-based milks). She has no rush to get meals on the table other than her own hungry stomach and no need to create full meals for just herself. I did find the information she found out (how milk is made, how flour is made) illuminating and have incorporated that knowledge into how I shop and cook. Sometimes her unhurried, casual way of making food drove me nuts. I don't have that kind of time. Grr.

Also Kimble is a young white woman with an upper middle class background. In the last chapter she does the SNAP challenge. This chapter alone changed the way I saw Kimble. She acknowledged that she had never been hungry or worried that she wouldn't eat. She went grocery shopping in a lower income neighborhood and watched families struggle to decide what to buy. I know that sometimes cost comes before health and often you choose the cheapest option, not the most nutritious. I wish that more of the conversation I heard about changing our food systems wasn't from white people. I think there are a lot of other voices out there I'm not hearing. I'll continue to look.

Overall Unprocessed gave me a lot to think about. I'll  be making some changes to what I buy and attempt to buy more locally. I'll also be looking for ways to continue the conversation and include more people. Others who shared their thoughts on Unprocessed: Walking On Travels, Living Upp, and A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss.
This is my sixth read for the Foodies Read Challenge.

Sunday, October 18, 2015

What To Eat This Week


Delicious. Everyone loved this one. Tai even took leftovers and said it was yummy the next day,

Another winner. Great comfort food. Served it over mashed cauliflower.

Apple Juice Chicken with Roasted Broccoli
I wish the juice had become more saucy but I did double the recipe. But it was still delicious.

Garlic and Smoked Paprika Sole with roasted green beans
I just sprinkled Flavor God Garlic seasoning with some smoked paprika over the sole and baked it for about 6 minutes. Then squeezed lemon juice over the fish. Very easy and tasty.


Hawaiian BBQ chicken





Kalbi Beef


Dinner Out


Dinner Out

Dinner out

 What's on your menu this week?

Saturday, October 17, 2015

The October Readathon Post

I had hoped to get more reading and cheerleading done earlier but life got in the way. We were out house hunting for most of the day. We found one that we like but not sold on the area.

Intro  Meme:
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Bellevue, WA (near Seattle, WA)
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
No books in my stack. Just reading whatever I want.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
No snacks planned. Just flying by the seat of my pants here.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
My husband and I are searching for our first house. I'll be spending part of the day house hunting.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?
I love the readathon. I'm starting much later than I usually do but that's ok!

Mid Event Meme:
1. What are you reading right now?
Just starting Nimona.
2. How many books have you read so far?

None.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?

Not sure.
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?

My whole day was an interruption but I'm looking forward to being up a lot of the night reading.
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?

Usually I feel the October one is less popular but it doesn't seem that way today.




Thursday, October 15, 2015

October Readathon Post

This Saturday is Dewey's 24 hour Readathon. I had the readathon on my calendar since the last readathon. But the October one is harder for me to keep open. Especially now because we are looking for a house! So I'll be out house hunting for part of the day.

I plan to cheer as part of #teamrogue and read what I can. But I hope to see you on Saturday here and on twitter.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and me that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.



Historical fiction in China? Sign me up.

What did you get this week? Add your loot below.


Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Teaser Tuesday-Unprocessed by Megan Kimble

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"For most of its early history-for at least the last three thousand years-chocolate was consumed in liquid form, usually prepared by brewing ground cacao in hot water, much like coffee today. It was a bitter brew, one drunk to invigorate rather than to indulge."
pg 63 Unprocessed by Megan Kimble

Monday, October 12, 2015

Korean Beef Bowls #pinitdoit

I'm always looking for good dairy free meals that are quick. This wasn't the prettiest of meals but it was a winner.

Here's the terrible photo:
Meat over rice. Yum.

I didn't have green onions but I'll add them next time. I served some steamed veggies on the side and it was a meal. I think it took about 30 minutes to make the whole meal but still a good quick meal.

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