My Sweet Max

I lost my sweet Max this past February 13th.  It was one day shy of his 13th birthday (according to his mother's owner, February 14th was his actual birthday - not a made up date).

He was only a couple of months old when I got him.  I used to say he came with the house because he was born about a week before I moved in and it was only a few weeks before him and his brothers and sisters would sneak through the holes in my fence line to come visit.

Max stood out from the others because while all the other dogs would jump on me, claw and nibble on me, Max would sit at the back patiently as if to say "I know you're busy but when you have a minute . . . "  I would pick up the other dogs and hold them to my chest and they would fidget and scratch me to get down but I would pick up Max and he would snuggle down as if it was where he wanted to be.

I had wanted to talk to his mother's owner about buying Max but I had just bought a house and was a little concerned about finances so had put it off.  Then one day I decided to bite the bullet.  Max and his brothers and sisters had stopped by and I picked up Max and brought him into my house, separating him from his brothers and sisters.  Once we got in the house he started fidgeting in a "stranger danger" kind of way like he wasn't comfortable being separated from his brothers and sisters.  I tried to make him feel comfortable when I noticed out the window his mother's owner was calling all the dogs back from my yard.  Apparently he was counting them as they came back and noticed that one was missing.  I ran outside with Max, apologized for "snatching" him and told him I wanted to buy him, if he'd let me.  He told me no charge and passed him back to me.  And that's how I came to have my sweet baby.

Shortly after I got him a friend of mine gave me a wading pool for him.  He loved that pool.  He'd jump into it and "dig" in it to splash water onto his tummy.  On occasion he'd sit in the pool.  And I'm pretty sure I saw him lay down in it at least once.  He was so cute in it.

Then back in 2005 we had a hurricane headed towards this area (it turned before it hit land so we were minimally affected, as it turned out).  I had tried to evacuate but couldn't get out of town due to horrible traffic and ended up staying with a friend of mine who had a full size, inground pool.  Max had never seen that kind pool before so the first time I took him into the backyard to do his business I watched as he tried to figure it out.  At home he had to step up over the edge to get in but this body of water was at ground level.  He pawed at it a few times before he stepped into (before I could stop him).  He was used to stepping into 4 or 5 inches of water and found himself completely submerged in this new body of water.  I could see the complete horror on his face as he worked his way to get his head back above water.  When it happened I was horrified but when I think of the look on his face now, knowing that he survived the ordeal, it's kind of amusing . . . bless his heart.  :)  The next time I took him out I had to watch him because I could just imagine the thoughts he had about it . . . "okay, it's deep but after I figured it out, it really wasn't that bad.  I think I should do it again."  Of course I stopped him and he never went back in but it was an experience for him. 

When I got Max I had a doberman named Cleo.  Cleo (bless her heart) had bladder control issues so I had to restrict her from getting on the furniture.  As a result Max was also restricted from getting on the furniture.  He learned at a young age that getting on the furniture was by invitation only.  After Cleo died and I got Brewsky and Harley, they would jump up on the furniture without invitation but Max still wouldn't.  Now, to be clear, if he wanted up on the furniture he would make it known, in no uncertain terms.  He would whine and bark until he got an invitation, even if it meant he had to wake me up to get that invitation.  He was very persistent.  The rare exception to that would be if it was storming outside and he was too freaked out to wait for the invitation, even then he would usually wait to be invited up on the furniture.

It has been suggested that I get a crate for Max when I got him.  And I did.  I would put him in the crate when I was at work (I'd come home at lunch) and I felt so guilty.  I hated doing that to him so to make me feel a little better, I would give him a treat when I put him in and I'd give him another one when I let him out . . . every time.  I only used the crate for a short while but the "need" to give him a treat when I left the house continues to this day (with Harley).  I stopped the "I'm home" treat a few years ago (Max tried to get me to continue it for a long time after I decided to stop that one).  If I didn't give him a treat when I left the house, he thought that meant he got to go with me (he also thought if he rejected the treat that that meant he got to go with me too, but he was wrong about that :) ).

Max was always a good traveler.  He liked to go places in the car.  I learned early on though that for long trips I couldn't feed him beforehand because he did get car sick and throw up.  But for the short trips around town he was good.  He liked to rest his head on the window ledge (?), close his eyes and let the wind blow on his face.  Typically his favorite side of the car was the passenger side but whenever I would go through a drive thru of any kind, he'd nonchalantly wander over to the driver's side car like he'd decided he wanted a change of scenery or something.  Then, when I'd pull up to the window he'd start barking like a possessed dog at whoever had the misfortune of helping me with whatever I was getting.  It was comical to see their reactions to his outbursts but I never could hear anything they would be saying to me over his barking.  It was pretty funny though.

I took Max to obedience training when he was a puppy.  Max had a bad habit of jumping on people when they came to visit and she got him to stop in two instances of walking over to him.  It was amazing how well it worked.  The only time after that he ever jumped on anyone, he warned them first.  How?  He'd come over to say hello.  If you didn't pet him immediately he would sit in front of you.  If you still didn't pet him he would start whining.  If you STILL didn't pet him, he would bark.  If you didn't pet him after that, he'd jump on you to let you know he wanted your attention.  Can't say you weren't warned first.  :)

There are so many other stories I could share with about Max and why I loved him so much (and why I will miss him so much) but I think this captures his essence.  He was such a sweet dog and it's still so hard to believe he's gone.

Max
February 14, 2001 - February 13, 2014

 

Note: Due to technical difficulties I wasn't able to post more pictures.  If I can resolve the issues, I will update post to include more pictures of this sweet dog.

June Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

I'm posting this early because I really want to participate and share about a great book I recently read. 

The book I am reviewing this month is Love Life by Rob Lowe.  I had previously reviewed Rob's first book Stories I Only Tell My Friends (here).  I really enjoyed his first book but I think his second book is better.  Before I went back and read my review, if you'd asked me about his first book I would have told you it wasn't an easy read but it was definitely worth reading.  I couldn't remember specifically what made it a difficult read but when I read the review, I remembered.  With the first sentence I was confused as to whether he was telling a story or whether someone was telling a story about him.  Then once I got past that he seemed removed from the stories to where, in my head, he was narrating a E! True Hollywood Story vs. actually sharing stories with the readers.

In Love Life Rob seems to have worked out the writing issues I had with his first book.  It's definitely more conversational with a feel that an old friend is sharing stories.  I should mention that I read some of the reviews after I read the book and some people were disappointed that it wasn't a scandalous tell-all book.  Others were disappointed that it didn't discuss more of his romantic encounters.  Fact told, I thought it would have more romance stories based on the title and I don't think he discusses romance in this book outside of his love affair with his wife, I'm actually okay with that - they weren't needed.

Now, about the writing . . . in the beginning he told a couple of stories where he chose not to share names.  I don't remember the stories being scandalous or particularly embarrassing for anyone so I didn't get why the names weren't shared.  I kind of felt like if he wasn't going to share the names, he shouldn't have included the stories.  These were at the beginning of the book and concerned me that it was going to be a long, hard read if he did that with all his stories but I needn't have worried.  There's also a passage towards the end of the book (next to last chapter I think) where he starts talking about his wife.  It seems like an incoherent, rambling that has no point.  It stops suddenly and the next chapter starts.  It was kind of weird.  Other than that, I had no issues with his writing.

As for the stories he shares . . . it's funny because as I was reading it, I knew I wanted to review it and kept thinking "I'll share this in the review".  I thought that enough times that if I shared everything I liked about the book and found funny, I would basically be retelling his entire book, in my own words.  :)

Having said that, I do want to touch on a few that deserve mentioning.  The first one I'll mention has to do with his time in rehab.  He was in rehab with a famous athlete (whose name he changed in the story to protect his anonymity).  During his stay, the athlete had a major break through that Rob shared.  It was beautifully told.  It was powerful and gut-wrenching . . . I was crying as I read it.  That said, I felt it wasn't his story to tell.  Now, I do understand WHY he told it because it had such an impact on Rob and has a lot to do with why and how he maintains his own sobriety but I still feel it was inappropriate for Rob to share that particular story.

But the stories that were his to share . . . he tells this hysterical story about how he wants to create a memory for his kids, all while having a little fun at their expense.  His family and his sister-in-law and her family all took a vacation up the west coast in an RV.  Rob thinks it will be funny to tell them stories about Bigfoot and create a "sighting" for the kids.  He's gotten a Bigfoot costume for it and everything.  Only, when the time comes things don't go quite as he had planned.  For example, he hadn't tried on the suit before and it was a really tight fit.  He had to rub up against the trees to secure the velcro on the back of the suit that closed it up.  The eye slits were no where near where his eyeballs were so he was flying blind.  Best of all, his oldest son (about 7 at the time) realized it wasn't really Bigfoot and thought it was some college person trying to scare them so kicked him in an area no man ever wants to be kicked in.  I was laughing so hard as I read the story that I had to put the book down several times while I collected myself again to read the next misfortune awaiting Rob.  I barely touch on it here.  Priceless.

Personally, I've always considered Rob to be a movie star.  I know he's starred on The West Wing (which I've never seen), Parks and Recreation (which I've also never seen) and Brothers and Sisters (which I have seen) but I thought of those as one-offs that he's done while I guess I thought he was waiting for suitable movie scripts.  In this book he talks about series that he's done that I had no idea about (and for reasons I'll go into a little here).  Did you know he was offered the part that Patrick Dempsey got in Grey's Anatomy?  At the time he had a verbal agreement to star in a show titled Dr. Vegas.  Nothing had been signed though so he could've done either at that point.  He talked to people and thought about it, it would seem in great detail.  He felt that on the surface Grey's Anatomy had the better script but conceptually, Dr. Vegas had much more potential.  Grey's Anatomy was going to be broadcast on the flailing ABC network who hadn't successfully launched a drama in more than a decade.  Dr. Vegas was going to be aired on a network that had a longstanding success rate with dramas.  He decided to go with Dr. Vegas, which never made it to air.  Meanwhile, Grey's Anatomy just wrapped its 10th season.

He also did a show called Lyon's Den.  The first script was fantastic.  Great concept, great potential.  Then, when he talks about the second script I have an image in my head of him calling the writers asking if they'd sent him the wrong script because it doesn't go with what they started in the first script.  He doesn't say anything remotely like that in his book, it's just how I imagine it in my head.  Anyway, he voices his concerns but ultimately does what he's told, against his better judgment.  By the time the show actually airs, they've filmed 6 episodes.  I didn't know this but apparently one hour shows get ratings feedback per half hour so that they can see if viewers turned in because of who was on the show and whether they were able to keep the audience through the second half hour.  Because of this they know after the first show that they didn't keep the viewers interested and the show is pulled.  BUT, they've contracted to film 13 episodes so they have to keep filming for a show that's not only been cancelled but is no longer even airing.  What this does, however, is allow them the freedom to really get creative with the last few shows.  Rob goes into detail about how they ended the series and I, again, put down the book so that I could see if I could rent the series from Netflix.  Unfortunately they don't have it but I may find it somewhere else.

In the end, I felt that Rob opened up a lot more in this book and shared more of who he is.  I really feel like I know him better than I did before - and I like him better for it.  His love and devotion to his family is very evident in this book.  If you're looking for a scandalous type tell-all book, this isn't it.  But if you're looking for an enjoyable, laugh-til-your-sides-hurt book, I think you'll really like this one.  I highly recommend it.

January Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

 

 

It's hard to believe that's it's already 2014 and time for another book review!  I'm going to review two books this month.  One was reviewed last month (because apparently I've started a "I'll read what they're reading" club) and the other is one that I've been really excited about its release.

(Note: I'm currently having difficulties uploading the book covers.  Sorry.)

Starting with the book from last month the first book I'm reviewing is One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt - the original review can be read here.  The story is about Carley Connors, a twelve year old girl that has found herself in the foster care system, placed with the Murphys.  It's told from the point of view of Carley.

Back in 1999 I went to a local adoption agency to see about adopting and/or fostering a child.  We had to go through a 12-week program so that we could be in a position to understand what we would be getting ourselves into and so we could understand where the children were coming from.  One of the exercises that was most powerful for me was one where we were all given 5 slips of paper and told to write the five most important things on them - one per page.  Once we had done this we were told we had to immediately give one up - decide which one and they would collect it from us.  Then we had to place the remaining 4 slips of paper face up on the table as they came and looked at them and took another away from us.  Then we had to have them face down and close our eyes and they kept taking the slips of paper from us until we didn't have any slips of paper left.  The exercise evoked a lot of emotions from the participants, including but not limited to "that's mine you can't have it!", and we weren't really having anything taken from us, it was just symbolic.  But it really brought home what these kids go through when they're taken from their homes and placed with strangers - even if it's in their best interest.  They have no control and they lose so much and they're so vulnerable but they don't want to show that because they're wounded beings.

The author did an excellent job of capturing the vulnerability and letting us see what Carley was going through.  The Murphys home was different than what she was used to - it was a happy home - but she didn't want to let them in because as soon as she did, she was afraid she'd be removed from the home and have to start all over.  Mrs. Murphy was patient with her and really wanted to have an impact on her life - and did.  The building of the relationship between Carley and the Murphys seemed natural and not forced by the author.  It is a beautiful story and beautifully told.  I think the other reviewer mentioned that it would make you cry, and it did make me cry.  Sob actually to the point I literally had to put the book down at one point, collect myself and blow my nose before I could continue reading.  But in a good way.

Having said that, there were a couple of things that bothered me.  The first being that the way it was presented, Mrs. Murphy went to Children's Services and said she wanted a child and since Carley had just entered their system, they gave her to Mrs. Murphy.  As I mentioned, I had to go through a 12-week program, followed by a background check and home study as a pre-requisite to even being considered as an adoptive of foster parent so I think that might have been lacking some research on the author's part.  Obviously they may do things differently in different areas of the country but I don't think they just hand over kids because people say they want to foster a child.  The other thing I'll mention here is that at one point Carley called the social worker and said she wanted to leave the Murphys house so the social worker paid a visit.  Mrs. Murphy was surprised by the visit and asked the social worker if this was standard practice. The social worker said no.  Going back to my situation, there were regular check-ups as well as random visits so that they could see the circumstances the child would be/was living in.  And it's worth noting that the 12-week program I went through did not only include the one agency I was working with but rather it included several area agencies so the practices weren't exclusive to the one agency.

But while that bothered me some, it doesn't take away from the story itself.  One for the Murphys is a book I highly recommend without reservation.

Okay, the other book I'm reviewing this month is Keep Calm and Carry a Big Drink by Kim Gruenenfelder.  This is a follow up to her book There's Cake in my Future which I reviewed here.  It picks up with Mel, Seema and Nic about a year later.  They're getting ready for Seema's wedding and are once again having a cake pull with charms that supposedly predict your future.  As with the last cake pull, Nic had rigged the cake so that her, Seema and Mel would get the fortunes they wanted.  This time they weren't taking any chances though so just before Seema's bridal shower, they all tested the placement of their charms by pulling them out and putting them back into the cake, which Nic smoothed over before the shower. 

Once again something happened and they all got the wrong charms.  Mel had wanted the passport charm, which means travel but instead she got the money tree, which means financial security for the rest of your life.  (Personally I think I'd prefer the money tree because you could still probably travel but you're guaranteed financial security, but that's just me.)  Last time Mel had gotten the "hot sex" charm and while she didn't believe in the charms, she did her best to make it come true. 

This time, since she again didn't get the charm she wanted, she decided to take fate into her own hands and be in charge of what happens.

In the last book the story was told from the perspective of each of the friends in alternating chapters.  This time it was told solely from Mel's point of view.  I think this may have been because the author possibly thought Seema's and Nic's journeys were complete and didn't need further first person telling.  And while I would agree that Mel had more of a story to complete, I was a bit disappointed that it was strictly told from her point of view.

That said, I really enjoyed the book.  The take away - for me - from the book is that it's important to follow your own dreams, despite what anyone else says or thinks.  If you're open, you just might find happiness.  :)

So, both good books.  Both worth reading.

December Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

It's that time again.  And since I've read several good books this month, I'm going to share more than one review with you.

I should point out that last month I bought four of the books that were reviewed.  I've read two of them already and both of those will be reviewed here.

Okay.


Let's start with The Partner Track by Helen Wan.  Review that made me want the book can be found here.

I really liked this book.  A lot.  Ingrid Yung is a Senior Associate Attorney who is up for a partnership at the Manhattan Corporate Law firm she works for.  She works hard and feels she has earned a partnership but, like everyone else, she has to wait for the announcement comes down and hopes nothing happens to mess things up for her.

Many people think she's a shoo-in because she has a few things going for her.  For one thing she's a female. For another, she's Asian.  The firm has never appointed a minority female as a partner in Mergers & Acquisitions, where Ingrid works and the pressure is really on the partners to have diversity. With Ingrid they get a "two-fer".

What I like about Ingrid is she's every person who's fighting for position in the workforce.  She's very likeable and very relatable, even if you're not up for a partnership in a law firm.  :)  Plus, she doesn't want to be appointed based on giving the firm an appearance of diversity - she wants it based on merit, which she's earned.  She doesn't ever want that questioned either.

Ingrid is a good person and she cares about others and the author does a wonderful job of conveying that. The book was very well written - very moving.  You get a close up look at someone's vulnerability at working towards something but not knowing if you'll get the result you want - or for the reason you want it.  I highly recommend this book.

Okay, on to the next one.

The next I'm going to review is The Opportunist by Tarryn Fisher.  The review that made me want to read this book can be found here.

Let me first say that I have a totally different take on the book than the review that made me by this book.  In that review the reviewer said that Olivia was really horrible to Caleb but that she (the reviewer) was still pulling for Olivia (I'm going from memory here because I won't re-read the review until I've posted mine so sorry if I'm remembering wrong here).  I didn't see it that way at all. 

Yes, Olivia did some cruel things and Caleb was impacted by them BUT they weren't so much to him as to get others out of the way because she saw them as obstacles between her and Caleb.  The one thing she did purposefully to hurt Caleb, he more than deserved.  Plus, even as she did these things she knew they were wrong and was bothered by them - just not enough to take them back or stop doing them.

The other reviewer also has said that it doesn't end like you'd expect it to which had me guessing from the beginning. And while I didn't see the ending coming, I wasn't surprised by things either.

That all said, my take on the characters was different from the other reviewer's in that I saw Olivia as very vulnerable and afraid of loving anyone.  She desperately wanted to love and be loved, which is why she did the things she did, but it also scared the crap out of her.  I think the other review had said she was yelling at the characters.  I was too, only I think what I was yelling was different.  I felt the relationship between Olivia and Caleb was toxic.  I felt like Caleb was a manipulator and abusive towards Olivia.  I was yelling at her to dump him and move on but she wasn't listening.  I had a hard time understanding why she'd want him back.

Despite all that, I did like this book and can recommend it without hesitation.  But, what I will say is that there are two other books in this series, told from the perspectives of Caleb and Leah (Caleb's girlfriend when he gets amnesia . . . oh yeah, Caleb gets amnesia and Olivia takes the opportunity to win him back, even though he's been with Leah for a few years).  This book came to a satisfying conclusion for me so I see no need to read the other two books in the series.  Leah wasn't portrayed favorably in this book and I've already mentioned how I felt about Caleb so I don't want to read their versions of this story.  Having said that, I did break down and read the first couple of paragraphs of each of the books online, in case I wasn't being fair to the characters.  And well, I only read the first couple of paragraphs because that was all I could stomach - they did nothing to change my mind on reading the sequels. 

So that's my take, a big yes on The Opportunist and a big pass on the sequels . . . but that's just me.

Next up is Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich.

No previous review to look up with this one . . . it's all me.  I love this series.  I know there are some who stopped reading the series because Stephanie goes too much between Morelli and Ranger and while I don't always like what she does in the book, I love the series. 

Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter who brings in people (skips) who didn't show up to court when her sleazy cousin Vinnie posted bond for them.  Lulu (a former "ho") helps her track down and bring in the skips.

They're both entirely unqualified for the job so it makes for some fun, light reading.  I read these books in a few hours time.  And if you're one of the people that has sworn off the books due to the Morelli/Ranger thing, they kind of address that in this book.  I mean I would've read the book anyway but I feel that maybe the author considered some of the negative feedback that was coming and addressed it - maybe not to some people's satisfaction but addressed nonetheless.  So, for me, this is another book to recommend.  :)

November Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

 

 

It's been a while since I've participated in the book club because, frankly, I haven't been reading a lot of books that I wanted to - or even felt right about - recommending.  Then a few weeks ago I picked up a book I'd ordered a while back based on another review I had read from a book club member.  The review had me ordering the book the instant after I posted a comment, it was that compelling to me.  Then, as I do some times, I didn't pick up the book for a while because I couldn't remember exactly what it was that made me want it.  After reading a series of very bad books, I figured I had nothing to lose and started reading the book I'm reviewing today.
 

 I'm reviewing The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.

Ivan is a gorilla.  He lives in a mall where he is expected to bring in customers who will spend their hard earned money.  His home consists of three walls made of glass and one wall that is painted to resemble a jungle.  He's friends with Stella the elephant, who has to perform several times a day and Bob, a stray dog.  The story is told in first person narrative from the viewpoint of Ivan.

During the time that I was reading this book I got my flu shot from the medical department where I work.  We're required to wait for 20 minutes after we get our shot to ensure we don't have an adverse reaction.  I always take a book down with me to fill the time and so I had this book with me.  The nurse administering the shot asked what I was reading and asked if it was good.  I said that it was good and then compared Ivan to Eeyore from the Winnie the Pooh series.  They're both loveable characters but I think the difference is that Eeyore expects bad things to happen to him.  He takes the bad things in stride but they're still expected.  Ivan, on the other hand, is just reporting events.  He doesn't complain and he doesn't whine, it's just how things are.

He's also very loyal to his friends.  Where he accepts his lot in life, he takes actions to make things right or better for his friends.

I fell in love with Ivan.  I laughed and cried while reading this book.  I wanted to help Ivan and make things better for him.  The details were that well told by the author.  At the beginning of the book there are some definitions of things you will be reading.  A me-ball is "dried excrement thrown at observers".  The following passage from the book is one that I found meaningful and tugged at my heart.

Three visitors

Three visitors are here: a woman, a boy, a girl.
I strut across my domain for them.  I dangle from my tire swing.  I eat three banana peels in a row.
The boys spit at my window.  The girls throws a handful of pebbles.
Sometimes I'm glad the glass is there.

My visitors return

After the show, the spit-pebble children come back.
I display my impressive teeth. I splash in my filthy pool.  I grunt and hoot.  I eat and eat and eat some more.
The children pound their pathetic chests.  They toss more pebbles.
"Slimy chimps," I mutter.  I throw a me-ball at them.
Sometimes I wish the glass were not there.

I love kids and I know this is a work of fiction but I was upset by the kids and wished the me-ball had hit them.

Now, having said it was a work of fiction, it is inspired by a true story.  There really exists a gorilla who lived in a mall as entertainment.  I didn't know this until I finished the book and read the author's note.  Of course the events and thoughts of Ivan were created from the author's imagination but they made me care about a gorilla, two elephants and a dog named Bob.

Some may say it's cheating that I'm reviewing a book that was previously reviewed but I think it's reinforcing the original recommendation that this is a book that should be read.

 Edited to add:  After adding the link to the previous review, I went back and read it.  That review really captures the essence of the book so well.  If you haven't read it before, follow the link - it's worth the re-read.
 





June Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

It's time for more book reviews!  

 

This month I'm reviewing Easy Sexy Raw by Carol Alt.  A little over three years ago I gave up meat and dairy.  I bought several cookbooks and even started experimenting with some recipes.  Then about two years ago I heard about raw food for the first time. It was referred to as a "raw diet" by someone I knew was trying to lose some weight so I thought it was something like the Adkins diet, but with raw foods.

Raw, to me, meant completely uncooked so in my head we were talking raw fruits and vegetables. The subject came up again about six months later when my doctor prescribed (yes, prescribed!) Pringles as a means to an end for an issue I was having at the time.  This same doctor had prescribed Pringles to a friend of mine and her sister had sent her an article entitled "Pringles Causes Cancer". The article went on to talk about what raw cooking is.  Essentially it comes down to not heating anything over a certain temperature.

 

So fast forward to a couple of months ago when I went on a cookbook buying binge.  The idea of raw cooking came back up and I found myself at Barnes and Nobles checking out some raw cookbooks.  I selected several and took them to a table to see which ones might best fit my self-imposed dietary restrictions.  This book was the standout for me.

 

Since buying the book, I've also invested in a dehydrator and a mandoline. I've made several of the recipes and so far have not found one I didn't like.  Among my favorite recipes is the Vegan Bay Crab Cakes.  I wasn't sure what to expect because, truth told, I've never had crab cakes so I didn't know if I would like this recipe, assuming it tasted like real crab cakes.  Among the ingredients are zucchini, celery, bell peppers, cashews, pine nuts (for the tartar sauce), almonds and macadamia nuts (which I've discovered I love on their own!).  So it's healthy.  And so scrumptious!  But it's not a quick recipe to make.  The almonds have to soak for 8-12 hours and then, once everything is prepared, it "cooks" in the dehydrator for a total of 4 hours so it's not something that you come home from work and say "I'd like to have raw, vegan crab cakes for dinner tonight."  It takes some planning - but I promise it's worth it.  And I'm fully aware that when I heat up my leftovers in the microwave, the meal is no longer raw.

 

Another good recipe is the Avocado/Kale Salad (actual recipe name may be different).  It's something that is truly raw and can be made in 15-20 minutes.  It's not quite as appetizing to look at but it's delicious.

 

For me, those two recipes alone were worth the price of the book.  Oh, and it's not a vegan cookbook - there are recipes involving meat included as well.  I won't be trying the meat or fish recipes in the book but that doesn't mean I won't maybe substitute ingredients for those with meat.

 

And something I did to test out what I call a theory in the book is I baked some cookies using the dehydrator.  Carol states that cookies put in the dehydrator to cook taste exactly the same as their baked counterparts.  I used recipes from other cookbooks I have - recipes that are tried and proven hits.  I split the batches evenly and baked half in the oven and half in the dehydrator.  There was absolutely zero difference in the taste.  The only differences were 1) dehydrated cookies do not spread out when cooked so the size/shape you put into the dehydrator is the same size/shape you get out; and 2) length of time to cook (10 minutes in the oven vs. 13 hours in the dehydrator).  The oatmeal chocolate chip cookies did stick a little in the dehydrator (peanut butter cookies did not) but I'm going to test that some more to see if there's a fix for that.

 

This book was an interesting discovery for me and I highly recommend it for anyone looking to experiment with raw cooking.  The thing to remember though is that raw doesn't necessarily mean fast.

May Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

It's time to review another book!

This month I'm reviewing Jessica Brody's latest release Unremembered.  As Ms. Brody is an auto-buy author for me, I didn't have a lot of information about the book.  I knew someone had lost their memory and was under the impression that getting it back would be a bad thing and that bad guys were after that person.  I knew it would be good and I knew it would be well written.  Beyond that I had no pre-conceived ideas or thoughts on the book.

I started this book a few weeks ago when I didn't have a lot of time to read.  I was pulled in immediately and was frustrated that I wasn't able to do a lot of reading at the time.  Then, this past Saturday I was out taking care of some business and I took the book with me so I could read while I waited.  First stop I was only allowed 15 minutes of reading time (if that).  Second stop the guy in front of me stormed out because he'd been told it'd be about an hour and a half wait.  When they told me that I said that was fine because I had a book.  They got me out in 45 minutes.  :(

At the third stop I was told it would be 45 minutes and I was there over two hours, and I didn't care one bit.  In fact, I didn't even realize that much time had passed because I was so into the book.

The book opens with Sera waking up in the ocean amongst a bunch of dead people.  When she's retrieved she has the distinct impression that no one expected to find her - at least not alive.  She's taken to a local hospital where she's asked a lot of questions she can't answer . . . like what her name is.  She's told she's the sole survivor of a plane crash and not only does she not know why she would be on the plane, she doesn't even know what a plane is.

In an effort to help relax her, one of the nurses gives her a sedative via her IV drip.  As she's going under a boy appears in her room.  There's something familiar about him and he's trying to get her to wake up and remember him.   He tells her he's going to get her out of there and then everything goes dark as the drugs kick in.  She wakes up in the morning and thinks it was all a dream.

Zen (the boy) shows up several more times but until someone asks her "who was that boy?", she  wonders if he's real or not.  Is he someone she can trust?  Why does she feel this connection when she's around him?  Who is he to her?  These are the questions she has as she tries to remember who she is and how she got to where she is.

One of the quotes on the cover said they'd loved the twist at the end so for the entire book I kept trying to guess what the twist would be.  I can't say a lot without giving too much away but the ending wasn't what I expected . . . for a lot of reasons.  But it seemed to perfectly fit the rest of the story.

Then, after I finished the book (after I got home from all of my Saturday appointments), I read the book blurb, which included "From popular young adult author Jessica Brody comes a compelling and suspenseful new series . . . "  I hadn't known this was part of a series.  That's exciting to me because there's a lot of places this story can go and I'm glad it doesn't end here - and not just because I could still be right about the surprise twist at the end.  ;)

Ms. Brody was among the authors that generously donated their books for the auction at work benefitting the American Cancer Society.  So, if you believe in supporting those that would generously give to help others, you should buy your book.  Or, if you don't care about that but just want a good book to read, then you should buy this book.  Bottom line, I think you should buy this book.  :)

The title is  Unremembered, but I promise you, you'll remember this book.  I highly recommend it.

April Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

So, it's been a while since I've participated in The Book Review Club.  Part of that has been because even though I've read some books I really liked, there was always something that made me feel not quite able to highly recommend the book.  I could recommend it but I felt I'd want to announce a disclaimer like "I really loved the book, well, except the part where . . . " and that's not the kind of recommendation I want to give at our monthly get togethers.

That said, I will be reviewing Jennifer R Hubbard's The Secret Year.  Now, before I get into the review, I want to share how I came to be reading the book first because I think that story is also worth sharing.

The company I work for likes to have a presence in the community, supporting charities, etc.  To that end, every year there's a Relay for Life campaign where we have events to raise money for the American Cancer Society.  And every year we have an online auction.  A few years back I asked a couple of authors if they'd be willing to donate books for the auction and they did.  It went over big with bidders.  The next year I asked a few more authors to participate with success.  Several years went by where I meant to solicit authors but never got around to it.  Then one Friday night in late January, early February of this year, I just started sending emails to any author I could think of that I knew I could recommend their books to anyone bidding in the auction.  Something like 30 authors responded that they'd be happy to donate books.  Eileen Cook not only responded that she'd be happy to donate a book, she offered to hit up her author friends for books as well.  And if you're wondering how that plays into my review, well, Jennifer R Hubbard is one of Eileen's author friends that responded they'd be happy to donate a book as well.  See, I had never heard of Ms. Hubbard before then.

Ms. Hubbard sent me an email offering one of two books and she provided a synopsis of both and asked which one I'd prefer.  I told her we'd be happy with whatever she chose to send and that I'd leave the choice to her.  What I didn't say is that my interest was piqued on her synopsis of The Secret Year.  She sent the other book (Try Not To Breathe) and I went online and purchased The Secret Year.

So that's how I came to be reviewing this book.  And one last thing before I get to the review, I thought I'd mention that our gracious host, Barrie Summy, donated her entire backlist to the auction - in hardcover no less.  The auction ended Wednesday and the books were a huge success.

Now to the review.   

Colt Morrissey of the flats had been having a secret relationship with Julia Vernon of Black Mountain for a year when he got the news she'd been killed in a car accident.  No one knew of their relationship, not even his closest friends, so he was silently grieving his loss.  Until Julia's brother gave him a journal Julia had been keeping, writing letters to Colt about their relationship and her public boyfriend, Austin Chadwick.

You see Colt and Julia were from different sides of the track, so to speak.  Black Mountain was for the rich and the flats were for the poor.  In public they didn't acknowledge each other's existence but in private, they shared their thoughts and dreams.  But they didn't talk about their future so Colt never really knew what Julia thought about him.  Not for sure anyway.  So Colt was a bit hesitant to read the journal and read parts of it when he needed to feel close to Julia or felt ready to deal with whatever she may have said.

Over the course of the next few months, Colt came to terms with his relationship with Julia and its sudden end.  I felt comfortable with the characters and realized it was because I felt like I was reading a modern day version of The Outsiders by  S.E. Hinton.   Cherry had liked Ponyboy and Julia's journal was a unique way to get inside her head. 

I read this book in one sitting and really liked it.  So my recommendation is this: I could recommend it because Ms. Hubbard was so generous as to donate a book to someone she didn't know, trusting that it would be used to raise money for a good cause.  But the fact that it was a well written, good story is the reason I'm recommending this book  I don't think you'll be disappointed. 

Mission Statement

Last summer I attended a training class, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. One of my bosses came on board when I was sick in 2010 so her first impression of me as a worker wasn't a good one. The fact that I was sick throughout 2010 - and remained sick into the first half of 2012 (yes all of 2011 was a blur to me) did nothing to improve her opinion. Which, in a roundabout way, is why I was in the class to begin with.

So, I'm in this class - which I enjoyed by the way . . . and learned a lot - and we had all these exercises we had to do. We had these booklets and we'd do something and have to write stuff in these booklets. Well, I was reluctant to write things in the booklet because I figured since my company paid for the class that it was subject to review by my bosses, right?

Well, we came to this point where we were told we'd have to write for five minutes after we saw a video. I, in my head, kind of scoffed and thought 'yeah right'.  Then we watched the video and were told to start writing and for some reason I just went to town writing and had more stuff I wanted to say when we were told time was up. No one was more surprised than me - seriously!

I can't remember if we shared anything from what we wrote (although I'm sure if we did it was on a voluntary basis) but we were told we should go back to it later and trim it down to a nice, concise mission statement for our lives.  It was a while before I went back to it but when I did I decided my mission statement was LIVE LAUGH LOVE and I decided I wanted to live that way.

In the meantime I was having computer issues to the point that I rarely logged on from home. Gone were the days that I blog hopped everyday to stay in touch with what my friends were doing, nevermind keeping up with my own blog.

For a while I had used school as an excuse for my lack of blog posts. And then I got sick, which really was a valid excuse because I struggled with getting out of bed most days for roughly two years, so blogging was a big event in my life - seriously.

But, in my head, I would've said my mission statement was a dream, or a goal, that I needed to aspire to. Then today I had some time and was reading some of my old blogposts and realized I had been living my mission statement prior to my making excuses as to why it wasn't a reality. I mean I was posting regularly when I first started taking classes so that doesn't work as a valid excuse later - at least in my opinion. Being sick I'm going to give myself a pass on (sorry).

Plus there's the fact that I have these documented memories that I would've otherwise forgotten about. I mean there are stories about my dogs that I'd forgotten about. Funny dreams (and some kind of scary ones too) that I posted. Workplace situations that, to be honest, I needed to recall about now. In short, reading some of my old posts was like reconnecting with an old friend that I'd lost touch with and was so glad to see again. I was recalling a side of me that I'd forgotten was there and really want to get back to.

When I created this blog it was, in part, a way to inspire me write . . . not just blogposts but books. I had a lot of enthusiasm for it then but lost it somewhere along the way. I want that back.

I've been reluctant in the past to commit to regularly blogging again but I want to regain that enthusiasm. I want to live my mission statement again. And, I want to go back to documenting things so that when I'm not having my best I'd days I can look back and think (as I did today) 'I remember that and it was FUN!'

So, here's to living the dream and becoming the blogger I once was. :)

My little flight risk

This coming week is National Dog Week.  Last year I had a post during the week and I talked about my three dogs - Max, Harley and Brewsky.

About two months later I lost Brewsky.

Over the last few years my blogging has dwindled down quite a bit but I managed to get at least one post up a month.  That is until I lost Brewsky.  I think that's because I wanted to recognize him but it was hard to talk about and I didn't want it to be a sad post that would make me cry.

Okay, probably going to make me cry anyway but I want to talk about the kind of dog he was, and why I loved him so much and still miss him today.

Brewsky came into my life a few months after I'd lost a doberman I had.  Max had loved her dearly and he went into a serious depression when she died, to the point I honestly believed I was going to lose him too.

Enter Brewsky.

I was taking Max on several walks a day, trying to keep him engaged and active after we lost Cleo.  Then one day this cute little puppy followed us home.  It took more than a little encouragement to get him to come play with Max, once we reached our house, that first day.  But after that, he was content to play for as long as I would allow him to and then he'd go back home until the next time.

It got to where Max would stop and sigh if his little friend didn't come out to play.  That's when I decided to talk to his owners and talk about regular play dates for our dogs.

Turns out that they were looking to get rid of Brewsky because he was always getting loose and disappearing for days at a time.  I wasn't really looking for a new dog but Max was so in love with him that I offered to take him in.

I learned quickly that the reason he would "escape" from his former owners is because he did NOT like being locked outside.  I have a doggy door and he was perfectly content being left home if he could get in the house.  And, despite what I'd been told, he was housebroken.  But if I left him locked outside (it only took two times for me to see the issue), he'd break free somehow.  I always referred to him as my little flight risk.  :)

Anyway, Brewsky was different than any dog I've ever had in my life.  He did things I'd never seen before - or since.

Max had grown up playing tug of war with Cleo.  Brewsky didn't like to share his toys.  So Max would try to engage Brewsky to play with him and he'd get nothing.  That is until Brewsky decided to take the toy away from Max.  He did this so effortlessly.  He'd lay down under Max and take his little penis in his mouth and suck.  I'm not kidding.  Max's eyes would roll back in his head and he'd groan in pleasure and the toy would fall out of his mouth.  When that happened, Brewsky would snatch the toy up and run outside with it.  Worked every single time.

Brewsky was so independent and fearless.  We used to go visit my step-father in Arkansas (the two pictures above and one below are taken there).  He lives at the top of a mountain and the dogs would have the run of the mountain.  His neighbor has cattle on his property.  This one day I had gone for a walk with the dogs and they'd slid through the barbed-wire fence and around some brush that I couldn't see past.  I wasn't overly worried until I heard a cow moo.

All three dogs came running from the behind the brush.  Max came and hid behind me.  Harley took off up the road that leads to my step-father's house - never looking back.  But Brewsky stopped as he came around the brush, turned around and went back.

I hear Brewsky bark at the cow.  The cow mooed back.  "Woof."  "Moo."  "Woof."  "Moo." back and forth until finally Brewsky rounded the corner again, chest all puffed out.  He'd "tamed" the cow and came out the victor!  :)

Brewsky also loved to play chase.  If he got out the front door at home, he'd take off down the street.  I'd call his name and he'd stop, look remorseful and then tear out running again with a huge doggy smile on his face when I got close.  Because of this, I wouldn't let him go out with me to get the mail unless he was on a leash.  I could let Max and Harley but I didn't trust Brewsky.  Then about a month before I lost him I decided to test him and see if he'd run.  I'd just gotten off from work and the garage door was open, the house was unlocked and my purse was sitting on the passenger side seat of the car.  Oh, and I was dressed in work clothes (obviously).

He reluctantly came out with me.  I mean I literally had to force him to come out because he knew he wasn't allowed.  But once I'd convinced him, he wasted no time in running down the street.  I took off after him, as fast as my work shoes (fortunately I don't wear heels but still not the best running shoes to be chasing a dog down the street in) could carry me.  He rounded the corner, looking over his shoulder to see how far behind I was.

He crossed a street and kept going.  I crossed the street but kept thinking about the unlocked house and purse on the front seat of the car and wondered if I should go back and get the car or at least lock up the house.  He ran another block and crossed another street before I decided I had to turn back.

I looked back in time to see his body sigh in defeat and he came trotting back towards me.  Once he reached me, the chase was on again.  Only this time it was towards the house.  For seven and a half years I always thought it was about being "free" and running wild.  But for Brewsky, it was all about the chase.  The game.  And winning. 

He was my little snuggler.  But it had to be on his terms and his timing.  And almost always in the morning.  I'd wake up and stretch and he'd come curl up under my arm with his head on my chest and be so sweet.  He was the only one of my dogs to do that, and I still miss that.  It was our time and our thing.

So, my little flight risk was the first to fly the coop.  It was unexpected and devastating but I'm so very grateful for the time we had together.

And with that in mind, and National Dog Week upon us, for those of you who have four-legged furry friends, go hug them and appreciate them because you never how much time you have with them.

Brewsky (May 2003 - October 31, 2011)

September Book Review

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It's time for a new book review!

This month I'm reviewing The Meryl Streep Movie Club by Mia March.  I heard of this book through Jessica Brody's Free Book Friday website.  It was spotlighted and a designated number were to be given out.  I registered to win but, alas, didn't.  But my interest was strong enough that I purchased a copy to read.  :)

At the heart of this story is an extended family (cousins and aunt), broken and shattered by a tragedy fifteen years ago.  As humans do, they each process and deal with the tragedy in their own way - in a way that creates distance (physical and emotional) and hard feelings between them.  They only see each other at Thanksgiving and Christmas anymore but they dread it like the plague.  So when Aunt Lolly calls a "family meeting" and expects everyone to come in for a huge announcement, alarm bells go off.

Aunt Lolly owns an inn on the coast of Maine and the belief is that her big announcement will be that she's selling the inn.  When they find out that's not the case, they all pitch in to help run the inn.  Among the tasks of running the inn is hosting a weekly movie night for guests, friends and family.  Meryl Streep is Lolly's favorite actress of all time and she has all her movies so when the movie selections are made, it's not a surprise that Meryl's movies are featured.

Each movie they watch addresses an issue that one of the family members is dealing with.  Discussions after the movies help them to reflect on their individual situations and move forward in their lives.  It's through watching movies with Meryl Streep that the family is able to heal itself and begin to work as a family unit again, as opposed to the fractures souls they'd been before.

The story itself was fairly predictable but it's the ending you want for the characters so you don't care.  In the discussions about the movies they give away major plot points and spoilers so if you've wanted to watch a particular Meryl Streep movie but haven't yet gotten around to it, you may want to watch it before you read the book (unless you're okay with knowing the ending beforehand).

I watched The Bridges of Madison County for the first time a few years ago.  My friend had warned me that I'd find myself crying unexpectedly so when I watched it I was waiting for this big thing to happen that would affect me this way.  Two hours into the movie I was still waiting and thinking my friend was nuts.  Then all of a sudden I was bawling for reasons I couldn't even say now.  Well, there's something similar to that in this book.  I was reading and all of a sudden I realized I was crying in a "Hm, my face is wet.  Ohmygosh I'm crying." kind of way.  I couldn't tell you what was going on at that point in the book or why it impacted me that way but if you had a similar experience when watching The Bridges of Madison County, well, let's just say, you've been warned.  :)

June Book Review

I almost forgot that today was book review day so please forgive the lack of links and pictures.  I'll try to add them later.

That said, the book I'm reviewing today is Nearlyweds by Beth Kendric. 

I love the premise of this book where three women with issues with their husbands discover that they're not legally married.  And how does one respond to that?  They get a do over, so will they re-marry or start over single?

Stella is young woman who married a man twice her age.  The town believes she's a gold digging trophy wife but she really loves her husband.  But on the wedding night he unceremoniously announces that he has no intentions of ever having kids with Stella, who has dreamed her whole life of being a wife and mother.  Then she has to decide if she wants to stay with a man who would deny her dream.

Erin has the mother-in-law from hell.  She reminded me of Lily Tomlin's character in 9 to 5 when she has the fantasy of being Snow White poisoning the boss with all the animated animals dancing around her.  She speaks to Erin in the syrupy-sweet tones while working to get her out of her precious son's life.  Erin has a severe allergy to peanuts and the mother-in-law can't seem to make scramble eggs without smothering them in some kind of peanut sauce.  And Erin's husband (or not-really-husband) can't seem to stand up to his mother.  When Erin realizes she can have a do-over, will she stay or start over?

And Casey.  Casey "married" Kyle by dragging him, kicking and screaming, to the altar.  He was a reluctant groom the first time so when it turns out they're not really married, can she get him back down the aisle?  And does she really want to?

I loved this book because I really had no idea where the author was going to take it and whether or not the couples would stay together or break up.  Erin and Casey had been friends before this all happened and they didn't much care for Stella because of the shared opinion of the town but once they bonded over this shared experience and came to realize that Stella wasn't what they expected.  It was a story of friendship and shared experiences.  Fast paced and fun.  I highly recommend it.  :)

February Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

So, last month Barrie asked if anyone was interested in an ARC of Lisa Gardner's upcoming book (out next week, by the way) Catch Me. As a fan of her work, I said I was interested and I did get a copy.

Amazon and B&N aren't allowing reviews on it yet so I'll be starting with my "less formal" review here.

Charlene Rosalind Carter Grant - aka Charlie - is the lone survivor of her childhood friends. The other two are dead . . . murdered. One on January 21st a year ago. The other on January 21st the year before that. So, with January 21st just a few days away, Charlie believes her number is about to come up and is doing what she can to prevent it. She's spent the last year honing her skills at self defense and alerts the local police of what she believes will happen so that if she doesn't prevent the murder, at least they might be invested - having met her - and will do everything they can to solve the murders.

Detective D.D. Warren has just gone back to work after having her first child and is somewhat sleep deprived and working on a case where someone is killing known pedophiles when she meets Charlie outside of a crime scene. Charlie pleads her case with D.D. but the more D.D. digs into Charlie's past, the more she wonders whether Charlie is victim or perpetrator. And why was she outside of a crime scene? Could she be involved in these murders as well? All she knows is that January 21st is fast approaching and if she doesn't come up with some answers soon, it's not going to be pretty.

I liked this book a lot. It drew me in and I couldn't wait to find out what happened next and how it would all resolve itself. This is one of a series of books with D.D. Warren as the "lead" player in the story and even though I haven't read the other books, I didn't feel like I was coming in late to the story. Definitely a stand alone book, which is a big plus.

On the negative side though, I figured out the "who" and "why" fairly early on - and I almost never do that (oh I guess, but I'm very rarely right) so that was kind of disappointing to me because I, oddly enough, enjoy the "OMG I did NOT see that coming!" aspect of reading a "whodunit" book.

Another thing that was a little unsettling was the POV of the characters. The story was told from the point of view of three characters - D.D. (third person deep POV), Jesse (third person POV) and Charlie (first person POV). In the beginning, before I really got deep into the story, I was a little confused with the POV transitions because I tend to read deep POV the same as first person POV so I was getting confused with whose POV I was reading. Once I figured that out, it was okay but then it kind of bugged me that Charlie would be the one getting first person POV, considering she's basically a guest starring role in D.D.'s story. I just kept thinking about how it would be like reading Stephanie Plum's story with Stephanie's perspective being third person and one of her skips being told in first person. It was just a little weird to me.

Having said that, I did like the book. I would recommend it. AND, I will check out the books in the series that came before it (as well as those that come later. Overall, I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. :-)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Donuts Take Two

Since I have a donut pan, I've really wanted to make some good donuts. My first attempt was a creation of my own (by the way, when I mentioned in that post that I was listing the original recipe - I meant MY original recipe, not the "tried and true" one I had based mine on). It wasn't a total bust but definitely needed tweaking.

I wanted to make donuts today but I really wanted to use a recipe that I knew would be good - no need of tweaking. So I searched the internet.

Here's the thing about the internet, apparently I'm not a good searcher. For one thing I don't have a lot of patience because my computer is a thousand years old and slow as molasses. I like quick/good results. If I don't get that, I tend to give up easily on searches.

That said, I did go to a number of sites looking for a good vegan donut recipe - despite my slow response time on my computer. But I wasn't happy with any of the results I found, and I'll tell you why.

All the recipes required a frosting for the donuts and I don't want a frosted donut! And even if I was willing to go the extra way to make the frosted donuts, the frosting recipes are all too similar to the frosting recipe for the cinnamon buns I made a week or two ago - which was a disaster. They call for huge amounts of powdered sugar and very small amounts of liquid to mix with it. What I ended up with was a large amount of wasted (because you can't re-use it) powdered sugar and about three drops of frosting (which, for the record, was actually good). So I'm not looking to repeat that on a donut recipe.

So I decided to give the chocolate peanut butter donut recipe I was working on another shot. Here's what I used and did:

Ingredients:
3/4 cup spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1tablespoon flaxseed
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup raw sugar (meant to half this but remembered too late)
3/4 cup soy milk
1/4 - 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (didn't actually measure this)
1/4 - 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips (again, didn't actually measure this out)

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


• Mix flour, baking powder, flaxseed, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, and sugar in a bowl.


• Combine milk, peanut butter and chocolate chips in a sauce pan and heat until chocolate chips melt and peanut butter "melt".


• Mix the chocolate/peanut butter mixture with the dry ingredients


• Pour into donut pan and bake for 12-15 minutes (I started with 12 minutes and put it on for 2 more - probably could've gone for 15 minutes and removed)

I'd halved most of the ingredients from last time because I'd had the "muffin top" donuts. This time they came out looking like donuts. They were more moist this time around but I still feel like the recipe needs more tweaking.

Meanwhile, I'm still looking for a good vegan donut recipe that doesn't require a frosting. If anyone out there knows of one, please share! (Note: I can pretty much veganize a recipe so if I have to look outside vegan recipes to find one, that would work too!)

Stuff

I don't want to say that I'm not blogging much lately but I had to make four tries at my password before I guessed the right one. In my defense, someone hacked my google account last summer and it always takes me a couple of tries to get the "new" password right. *sigh*

Anyway, I recently bought a donut pan and decided to create my own kind of donut. It was based on a tried an true recipe but the final result was one of my own making. I was going for a chocolate peanut butter donut because that sounded good in my head. I wrote down the ingredients in case they came out okay, or if they came out good enough that I'd want to "enhance" them at a later date (which was the case, by the way). I haven't played with it since but here's the original recipe:

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 teaspoon baking sode
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons chocolate hazelnut butter
1-1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup raw sugar

I forgot to write down the temperature and how long I baked them but looking at the base recipe, I would say 350 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes.

When I decided to make the donuts I thought I would melt the peanut butter and chocolate but didn't feel like wasting the time it would take so I just combined everything into a bowl, mixed it up, poured it into the sprayed pan and popped them in the oven.

Next time I will melt the peanut butter and chocolate and will use more of both. But I guess the point is, I will make them again.

In other cooking news, I made Mushroom Turnovers the other day. You'd have to understand that I'm kind of afraid of mushrooms to understand the importance of this act. For a year or so now I'll periodically buy mushrooms because I want to try them (mostly because of their vitamin D content) but I seem to end up throwing them out a few weeks later as the science project begins in my refrigerator. But this time I cooked them. And ate them! The recipe doesn't say anything about chopping up the sliced white mushrooms but I did chop them into as small of pieces as I could get them into because I didn't think I'd be able to even try the turnovers otherwise. Turns out, they're not that bad. I had a mushroom turnover this afternoon for lunch and I actually forgot about the mushroom content. I know it doesn't sound like a big deal but I'm telling you, it was history making! :)

I watched Friends with Benefits with Justin Timberlake today. I liked it much more than I thought I would. Some might wonder why I'd get the movie if I was anticipating not liking it. I can't answer that because I honestly don't remember adding it to my Netflix queue and I apparently bumped it up the ranks after doing so. But the point is, I did like it - a lot.

Ditto for I Don't Know How She Does It with Sarah Jessica Parker, with the exception of I watched it yesterday. I don't know what I expected from these movies but they were light and fun . . . a good thing.

Did you know that the Game Show Network is airing past seasons of Dancing With The Stars? They started yesterday and they started with season 4 - the season Apolo Anton Ohno won. I've watched every episode of the show that has aired and when the "stars" came out, there was one I didn't remember. Her professional partner was also a one season wonder. They were the "Ken and Barbie" couple. The only thing that came back to me after watching the show was that they stayed too long at the party!

Speaking of staying too long at the party, did you hear that Emily Maynard (the one Brad gave the final rose to in his second run on The Bachelor) is going to be the next Bachelorette? I haven't watched the series from the beginning. In face, I saw the very last episode of Brad's first run and started watching then. I skipped Brad's repeat and believe I'll be doing the same for Emily. I have to think the franchise is not doing well if this is what it's coming down to!

January Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

It's that time again . . . time to talk books.

This month I will be discussing/reviewing Rob Lowe's biography, Stories I Only Tell My Friends. There's just something about Rob Lowe that draws me in. I saw some of his interviews when he was promoting this book and I did my dead-level best to fight the urge to buy this book. Why, I have no idea. But, obviously I broke down and bought (and read it!).

There are a lot of things I want to say about this book but I'm going to start with some writer things.

For example, the opening line of the book is: "I had always had an affinity for him, an admiration for his easy grace, his natural charisma, despite the fact that for the better part of a decade my then girlfriend kept a picture of him running shirtless through Central Park on her refrigerator door." I re-read that sentence several times trying to figure out if Rob was telling the story or if someone was telling a story about Rob. I skimmed a couple of pages until I found a name - any name - in the story to tell me who was "talking". Of course it was Rob telling the story about his girlfriend with someone else's picture on the refrigerator, but it kind of threw me with the first sentence.

Then, for a while, the story was told in a way that, well let me back up a minute. When I read books - autobiographies or not - I see the story play out in my mind like a movie. I can envision what's happening. When I was reading this book, the first quarter or third of it, what I was seeing in my mind was clips of his life narrated by the E! True Hollywood narrator. Rob was telling stories about his life but the way he was doing it was such that the stories didn't seem about him. He seemed really removed or detached from the stories. At least it seemed that way to me. It was actually quite comical to me . . . in my head (you know, hearing the narrator and all).

That all said, I couldn't put the book down. It's really the story of his career. There's very little of his personal life in this book. Personally I would've liked to have more of his personal life in the book but what he wrote was also very telling about the sort of person he is.

For example, he tells stories of things that happened to him during the filming of movies and TV shows. Some of the things done to him were not good but he never really calls anyone out on those things. He didn't take this opportunity to trash anyone or throw them under the bus.

On the other hand, he did take advantage of this opportunity to say some really nice things about a couple of people. For instance, he mentions Jodie Foster in the book on several occasions. It's pretty clear that he considers her a good friend and thinks very highly of her and apparently she's been there for him when he really needed someone in his corner. He also took a moment to tell how Thomas C Howell (Ponyboy in The Outsiders, and who is referred to as Tommy Howell in the book . . . took me a while to figure out who he was talking about) helped him out in a filming situation. It came across as a great kindness on "Tommy's" part. Rob didn't have to tell these stories - no one would've ever known the difference. That he did tell them says a lot, to me anyway.

The further in the book I got, the easier the writing seemed to come to him. There were stories that made me laugh out loud. I just really enjoyed the book and feel comfortable recommending it to anyone that might enjoy an autobiography and/or who is a fan of Rob's.

Now, one last thing on the book before I go . . . I had never seen Footloose before. With the re-make, I decided I needed to see the original and it had finally come in after weeks of it being on a "very long wait" list in my Netflix queue. So, as it was sitting on my entertainment center waiting for me to watch it, I read how Rob had auditioned for the role that went to Kevin Bacon. And as I watched the movie (after I finished the book), I couldn't help but see Rob in the part. In a weird way, it added to the experience of reading Rob's book. :)

So, again, good book. :)