A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, reads, and a few crazy stories. Oops I did not mean to fall behind on blogging, but it happens. Let's catch up!
Eats
We've settled on Saturday night for our big family Easter party. Our divide and conquer menu is:
Mini quiche (by me. The recipe that I've been using for a billion years is no longer on line, so this year I used this one.
French toast casserole by SIL #3
Cheesy potato casserole by SIL #4
Dessert, also by me. Our standard chocolate chip cookies, and I was in the mood to play in the kitchen so I also made jello shots.
As you may remember, I made red, white, and blue jello shots for July 4th, which came out very well. I was expecting the internet to be awash with cute Easter jello shots, but came up dry. The recipes out there were either for different sized cups than I have, and the ones that matched my cup size were...how do I say this nicely...not the best looking (example here).
I decided to use my July 4th recipe with yellow, blue, and what I hoped would be pink. We didn't have enough vodka, so I got a bottle of whipped cream flavored to try. As it turned out, I couldn't tell the difference between the plain vodka and flavored vodka ones - they all tasted like jello.
I couldn't decide if I wanted to do three layer, two layer, or single color so naturally I did some of each.
No issues with the single layer shots.
The double layer shots also came out well.
Workouts/Wellness
Spring is here! I'm almost done with the hiking challenge, and one day it was so nice that Bikey McBikerson came out of the shed to play.
And then she went full Sea Serpent.
What's different now compared to December when my sleep got noticeably awful? NOTHING!!! I have no explanation for why my sleep got so bad or why it's been great for the past few weeks, but I'll take the great sleep streak.
Watching
Back in 2020, Hubs and I went on a spree of watching Gritty 70s NYC movies, and the spree ended with just two titles, Midnight Cowboy and Taxi Driver.
Well, we're back baby! We were having one of those random conversations at dinner which brought back memories of a movie that I saw in high school. But was it really as good as I remembered?
Oh yes, The Taking of Pelham 123 was flawless. It's a very simple story about the hijacking of a subway car, and it was perfect for a date night movie. It was also a great follow up to Seinfeld, since Jerry Stiller is in it.
Reading
The last time we talked, I had just started The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty, inspired by my visit to her home on the Jackson trip. Sadly it was a meh.
Next up: remember I'm Glad My Mother Died? Well, Jeannette McCurdy is back, this time with her first novel, Half His Age. It's about a high school student with a crush on her teacher, who is [see title of book]. McCurdy nailed what it is like to be in high school, that's for sure, and I like what she did with the ending. Other than that, I've been out of high school for a while, so the story was not nearly as interesting to me if it would have been when I was one third of my age. However, I like the author so you can probably count on me for a read of anything that she writes.
After that I floundered for a bit trying to find the next book, so I went back to an old friend for a reread. I first read The Far Country by Nevil Shute when I was in junior high, and if you forced me to pick a favorite book of all time, this might be it. The story deals with a young woman who gets a chance to leave the brutal economy of post WWII England to stay with relatives in Australia, where adventure awaits.
Currently: I heard about How to Survive in the Woods by Kat Rosenfield on the Sarah's bookshelves podcast. It was described as "Sleeping With the Enemy meets Heartwood" and so far it is...eh, OK fine it's not landing and might end up being a DNF. The reason I'm still reading is that it's a short book and something about the story is strongly reminding me of an old suspense movie, and I'm interested enough to see if I'm right about that. If so, do I say what the old movie was since that could be a spoiler? Sometimes it's tough to decide where to draw the line, but no need to think more about that until I find out either way.
What's Next
Another week at home, and then I'll be headed on another road trip! Woo hoo!
Peace out! How was your Easter, if you celebrate? Do you have a water dog? Whatcha reading?
Ooooh going gritty with the movies! Midnight Cowboy is SUCH a grim and depressing movie, but also it's so well done. Same same with Taxi Driver! YOU TALKING TO ME??? HEY I'M WALKING HERE (conflating the movies in my comment).
ReplyDeleteI love that you use Grey Goose for your jello shots. No cheap vods for you!!
I am in the queue for Half His Age, and I've been here for a while, not sure when I'll actually read it but I will let you know how it goes for sure!
Now I know why Pelham isn't better known. It doesn't have a signature line like Cowboy and Taxi Driver. But other than that it's a great movie.
DeleteLol, my choice of top shelf was based on using an old bottle from the Hubs's stash. I used up the remainder of my pre-martial vodka for the July 4th shots and the Grey Goose was his pre-martial bottle. Neither one of us really drinks the hard stuff.
We went to my MIL’s for brunch yesterday. I made a ham on Friday with the fixings, though, because I like having leftovers - especially the ham bone for soup. My MIL made a potato/egg/ham dish and had blueberry muffins and fruit to go with it. Oh and asparagus which is the only vegetable she has ever served in the many years I’ve been with Phil. Which is fine since I like asparagus. It’s just kind of funny.
ReplyDeleteI had a few DNFs lately, like my book club book (Lush). I usually try hard to read the book but this was not going down. I also have up on The Seven Daughters of Dupree which was said to he a read alike to Homegoing which I loved. But I could not follow the narration and gave up pretty quickly. I didn’t have a first hand rec for that, I think it was suggested on Libby and Goodreads. I don’t give a book much time without a first hand rec!
Asparagus as the only veggie is...kind of funny.
DeleteFor the longest time I avoided bookclubs because I was afraid that I wouldn't like the books. Then I joined one and found out that it's totally fine! As long as the books are good more often than not, I'm finding new things to read and having good conversations about books.
I live in fear of online recipes disappearing. I could print them, and I do, but I also want to be able to find them when I want to, so I copy them onto my blog. How was your quiche? Cheesy potato casserole sounds really good.
ReplyDeleteI love that Doggo is a water girl. She looks so happy!
I remember thinking that Saturday Night Fever was going to be a fun happy movie, and it was a lot more gritty than I expected.
Yeah for posting! I was hoping that you were just busy with life and that nothing bad happened to you!
ReplyDeleteOn the cooking front, isn't it a bummer when they take recipes offline? I used to write all my recipes down on index cards for my recipe box, but stopped because having them on my phone was more convenient. And then several of my favorites also went away. Maybe it's time to return to the print or write and store method?
I don't know if you are a split pea soup fan, but if you are, ham leftovers really make it taste great!
Our Easter was meaningful, but pretty chill-recap on my blog. :)
No dog, and not too much water here. Did your dog get you wet after all the water there?
I am currently reading The Electricity of Every Living Thing. It's a journey of self-discovery while hiking--very enthralling in its own unique way.
I can't wait to read about your next trip! Be safe and have so much fun (and tell us about it if you wish)!