Rock the Kindle: February

I have finally selected my book picks for this month:

First up is My Life in France by Julia Child. Like most everyone else, I was inspired by the movie Julie and Julia and this book incorporates learning more about some of my favorite things, food and France.




Next up is a book I discovered on another blog, Yeah Dave's Guide to Livin' the Moment: Getting to Ecstasy Through Wine, Chocolate, and Your Ipod Playlist by David Romanelli. How could you possibly go wrong with a title like that?



And last up includes my fiction pick that has been on my list forever and one that I hope finally inspires my ass enough to get me on a plane to Italy. The City of Fallen Angels by John Berendt.



Happy Reading!!

January Book Report

I am a bit remiss in getting my book reports finished but am proud to say I have been keeping up with reading three books per month and am almost finished with those selected for February.

Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert was very enlightening on the subject of marriage. It awakened me to how it's definition has evolved to meet people's needs and lifestyles. It did not measure up to my love for Eat Pray Love but that was to be expected. Still a very enjoyable read overall...

My favorite excerpts:

"Marriage becomes hard work once you have poured the entirety of your life's expectations for happiness into the hands of one mere person. Keeping that going is hard work."

"Whether you have children or not, then, the prescription seems clear: Save your money, floss your teeth, wear your seatbelt, and keep fit-and you'll be a perfectly happy old bird someday, I guarantee you."

And a glimpse of how the definition of marriage has changed:

"For the first thousand or so years of Christian history, the church regarded monogamous marriage as marginally less wicked than flat-out whoring--but only very marginally."

Fascinating stuff. They is lots of useful tidbits in this book. She talks about the "cheater gene", and expands on her own resistance to marriage. And I even discovered a passage that would make fabulous wedding vows ;)



For the second book, Freakonomics, I was educated on connections between things I never dreamed were connected such as abortion and crime rates, good business models and drug rings, and the significance of birthnames.

My favorite part included the classification of names given by socioeconomic status. Did you know that in households with the most highly educated parents, the most popular names are Lucienne, Glynnis, Adair, Miera, and Clementine?



And on to the third book, my fiction pick, and probably my favorite for the month, Still Alice by Lisa Genova. It spotlights a Harvard professor's struggle with the diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. What makes this book different is that the story is told from the professor's perspective rather than the caregiver. Before I read it, I always said that if I ever had to live in a nursing home, I would rather have Alzheimer's than be completely cognizant with something like diabetes or emphysema. My work in health care just made me think that it would be better to have less awareness of what was going on around me. But I was DEAD WRONG. No illness is necessarily "better" than another. They all SUCK. This book showed me that Alzheimer's is like Swiss cheese, the holes are inconsistent with varying depths leaving you scared and not ever knowing what to expect. A truly eye-opening read.

The Snowball Martini

Well, the white stuff is now 30" high and risin'....

So I figured when life gives you snow, make a Snowball Martini.

I searched for recipes using fresh snow for cocktails and came up empty handed.

Here's my concoction....

The Snowball Martini



1.5 cups firmly packed snow (or about five hacky sack sized snowballs)
1/4 cup milk (I used skim to keep the calories low)
1 shot vodka (add a little more if you like it strong)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix for just a second in the blender...pour in a martini glass..add a dash of cinnamon and a couple of snowballs with a melon baller.

Very tasty indeed :)

About Me

This blog is a place for me to explore the things I love in my own little corner of cyberspace. Those things mostly being food, wine, yoga, travel, style, and my own little home improvement plan. I am a small town gal with big city cravings, a therapist by day, foodie-wino-yogi by night, and a lover of all things French, red, and tasty. Grab a hot cup of coffee and come sit by my fire....