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Book a Week in 2014 - BW27


Robin M
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Praying for you Jane. My husband's sister lives on the Outer Banks. Looks like it will just skirt by FL. We may get some rain and beach erosion but hopefully not much more. We've already had enough trees come down with the spring rainstorms.

Thanks.  We haven't had a good blow in a while so I suspect that yard cleanup will follow.  I just hope that we're picking up sticks as opposed to branches. 

 

Perhaps your sister-in-law and I will luck out.  The models keep changing at this point.

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Everyone (except me, for now) seems to have read it and we are people of many, many books. 

 

I haven't read it either, but it doesn't sound like something I'd like. Unless I skip all the history bits.

 

I started listening to Making Habits, Breaking Habits: Why We Do Things, Why We Don't, and How To Make Any Change Stick on Audible. Whew. I have a lot of work ahead of me. At least I have made a lot of progress on this project:

 

Beautiful x-stitch Shawn!

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No bathtub gin but the guest bath has been turned into a microbrewery at the moment. The Rye Pale Ale that my husband made over the weekend is bubbling away.  He's calling it "the Rye of the Storm".

 

Include me in the virtual party. I'll bring the avocado dip. 

 

Fun times. Remember when my hubby used to make beer. Such a mess.

 

Stay safe.

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Jane -- perhaps it will be a good storm for knitting, til the power goes out and you have to count stitches by candlelight or weak daylight!  I know my old eyes wouldn't handle low-light crafting very well. (insert squinting smiley here)

 

We've got limes and avocados so far -- shall I bring the chips or some salsa?  

 

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I'll bring a raspberry galette and a rhubarb galette, my favorite thing to make these days. And you can't have galette without ice cream, so some local vanilla bean ice cream to go with that. And for the savory side of things, freshly shelled walnuts, washed rind cheese and some good cab.

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I will bring a sweet and a savory.  Maybe lemon drizzle and spinach artichoke dip.  

 

We can watch the start of the Tour de France which is happening in Yorkshire this weekend.   I keep looking at the weather and it is iffy.  We may end up showing off our drizzle to the world.  ;)  The crowds are starting and we are not on the route or close enough for it to be easy to go watch with way too many people.  We will be watching the telly and recording! 

 

Robin, I need to finish House on th Strand before I start Jonathan Strange due to the potential for confusion on my part.  Should be ready to start this weekend.  Should we plan on Sunday?

 

 

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I will bring a sweet and a savory.  Maybe lemon drizzle and spinach artichoke dip.  

 

We can watch the start of the Tour de France which is happening in Yorkshire this weekend.   I keep looking at the weather and it is iffy.  We may end up showing off our drizzle to the world.   ;)  The crowds are starting and we are not on the route or close enough for it to be easy to go watch with way too many people.  We will be watching the telly and recording! 

 

 

Has Yorkshire been relocated to France?

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I actually picked up a fiction book! I'm pretty proud of myself because I haven't been able to really enjoy fiction for a while now. It's called This River Awakens by Steven Erikson.

 

Ohh, tell me about it! I love Steven Erikson, but I haven't read this one.

 

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Has Yorkshire been relocated to France?

Apparently the start of the race frequently happens elsewhere in Europe and it is a huge honour to be chosen.  From personal experience it means bike tourism in the whole area goes way up and driving becomes dangerous.  From one direction our village is entered by coming down a tree lined curved hill signposted very obviously at 40 for good reason because at the bottom two extremely busy roads intersect without a round about.  Bicyclists (not locals) are being clocked at 60 plus coming down our hill.  Accidents are happening but no tragedies thus for because the locals have become super cautious,  the bikes are only visible for maybe 20 feet at best to people making a right hand turn.  You can imagine 20 feet with a bicyclist dressed in black going 60 with bright sun not fun for people driving cars.

 

Here is the Wiki description of the route. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Tour_de_France. The villages along the way are putting lots of effort into flowers and other decorations(bunting must be all over,  I think every group I belong to has been asked to do some for the route).  Church towers are scheduled to ring ( comment directed at Jenn) with great ringers.  Should be great viewing assuming the weather holds.

 

Campsites with spectators are filling quickly apparently.  It took us roughly an hour last night to get out of York, after 6.  Normally we leave at 5 and with normal heavy traffic its 20 minutes to the main road.   York looked great.  We walked a portion of the route, shopped for souvenirs for friends, and back to the car via the walls.  Our weather is beautiful currently(we never know this could be our summer ;) ) and dh is free so we are trying to have a couple of days out.  Planning to go to the coast near Whitby today.

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I'll bring a raspberry galette and a rhubarb galette, my favorite thing to make these days. And you can't have galette without ice cream, so some local vanilla bean ice cream to go with that. And for the savory side of things, freshly shelled walnuts, washed rind cheese and some good cab.

 

This sounds divine. People around here just don't understand rhubarb. 

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We also got a book at the library sale for 25 cents called The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew -- Three Women Search for Understanding by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner. I'm about 1/4th of the way through and I've already learned a lot. I already recommend it.

 

This book actually changed my life.  I read a lot of books, I like a lot of books, I wouldn't claim that all that many books actually change my life!

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Shawn, I am wide-eyed with amazement at your cross-stitch.  Holy moly!  How long does a project like that take?

 

 

Jane, I hope Arthur decides to veer in a different direction...

Hurricane party anyone?

 

Looks like I may be on or near the path of Arthur, currently a tropical storm but expected to become a category one hurricane at some point Thursday. I have no plans to evacuate (I usually don't for category one storms).

 

Knowing that wind and rain are on the horizon, we went for a pre-dinner swim followed by a beach picnic.

 

... though I'm relieved to know you're well provisioned...

Hurricane party at Jane's!! I'll bring some rum, anyone have lime and orange juice?

 

 

No bathtub gin but the guest bath has been turned into a microbrewery at the moment. The Rye Pale Ale that my husband made over the weekend is bubbling away.  He's calling it "the Rye of the Storm".

 

 

Include me in the virtual party. I'll bring the avocado dip. 

 

 

 

 

Party?  I'm in!

 

I'll bring cake and coffee.  We're going to need coffee if we're going to be staying up all night talking books and storm, right?  

 

 

 

And onceuponatime -- OK --

This sounds divine. People around here just don't understand rhubarb. 

 I just realized I don't understand rhubarb.  I have rhubarb in my own garden, planted by my predecessor in the house.  It grows happily and perennially, reaching close to 5 feet by mid-June, and I cut it and pop it in a saucepan with some strawberries and sugar -- the only way I've ever seen it cooked -- and invite my family to eat it on some vanilla ice cream -- the only way I've ever seen it served.  And we all look at each other like, huh?  What is the point of this?  Why is this better than, say, hot fudge, or plain raspberries?

 

What ought I do instead?

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And onceuponatime -- OK --

 I just realized I don't understand rhubarb.  I have rhubarb in my own garden, planted by my predecessor in the house.  It grows happily and perennially, reaching close to 5 feet by mid-June, and I cut it and pop it in a saucepan with some strawberries and sugar -- the only way I've ever seen it cooked -- and invite my family to eat it on some vanilla ice cream -- the only way I've ever seen it served.  And we all look at each other like, huh?  What is the point of this?  Why is this better than, say, hot fudge, or plain raspberries?

 

What ought I do instead?

:lol: That's what I would do if I had some. Skip the strawberries. I love the flavor. Plus it's just part of the cycle of the year, the same as various other fruits and veggies. (Tradition!)

 

It can go with the strawberries in a pie, with the vanilla ice cream on top of a slice. But it amounts to the same thing, doesn't it? :D

 

I live in the south. When I say rhubarb, I hear, "yuck!"  I can't seem to shake my Yankee roots.

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Rhubarb...I made these bars a few days ago because I had some cream cheese that needed eating up and a bit more rhubarb in the garden. They were good.

 

Here's a rhubarb muffin I have pinned (from Smitten Kitchen). 

And a tea bread

 

It also makes an interesting jam. 

 

I don't really think of rhubarb as something I would seek out on it's own, but it is one of the early vegetables and like cranberries it makes a nice sour note with other things. Some of my boys like it uncooked...like celery...it's more sour that way. It seems like the sour cooks out, especially in sugary applications. 

 

I think it's more fun if you're a seasonal eater. When we have everything available to us, the little changes don't hold as much meaning. 

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This sounds divine. People around here just don't understand rhubarb. 

 

It's beyond understanding for me -- it's just plain ol' ignorance.  Never tasted it, wouldn't recognize it in plant form, don't know if it even is in our grocery store or how well it would travel to get here. 

 

But I'd try it at the hurricane party at Jane's  :D 

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My mil cooks rhubarb w/ a lot of sugar & just eats it that way. I love it when she does that & I join her. I really need her to teach me (or, like Jenn, show me a rhubarb plant at a minimum) because I have no idea what it is/how it is prepped so that actually becomes this pink, sugary mush that tastes so good.

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And onceuponatime -- OK --

 

 I just realized I don't understand rhubarb.  I have rhubarb in my own garden, planted by my predecessor in the house.  It grows happily and perennially, reaching close to 5 feet by mid-June, and I cut it and pop it in a saucepan with some strawberries and sugar -- the only way I've ever seen it cooked -- and invite my family to eat it on some vanilla ice cream -- the only way I've ever seen it served.  And we all look at each other like, huh?  What is the point of this?  Why is this better than, say, hot fudge, or plain raspberries?

 

What ought I do instead?

I have a recipe for something called Rhubarb Grunt that is divine.  I'll work on posting it or sending it in a PM.

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I finished the new novel #38 The Fever, by Megan Abbott.  Several high school girls in a small town start having unexplained seizures, blackouts and other complications.  Is it the polluted local lake that they have been swimming in?  Was this some type of reaction to the HPV vaccine the girls had received at school?  It is billed as sort of a medical thriller.

 

I really liked the writing.  However, there was just no plot.  The story was so boring and I cannot believe it is being billed as a thriller. I usually don't care for stories about teenagers all that much but it was more than that here.

 

Which brings me to a question.  What, exactly, is YA fiction?  I thought it was fiction that young adults (teens I guess) would like but I thought I read somewhere that YA is a book that is about - not necessarily for - young adults. 

 

Up next for me is I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You, by Courtney Maum.     The new JoJo Moyes (One Plus One) is on its way to me from another branch but I am not sure it will get here in time for 4th of July so I'm starting this one.

 

Stay safe, East Coast BAWers.

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Which brings me to a question.  What, exactly, is YA fiction?  I thought it was fiction that young adults (teens I guess) would like but I thought I read somewhere that YA is a book that is about - not necessarily for - young adults. 

 

 

Stay safe, East Coast BAWers.

 

 

Pink and Green Mom gets Robin's "stay on the topic of books" award for the day, steering the conversation away from rhubarb and back to books!

 

I like Stephen Colbert's definition of YA works:  "A regular novel that people actually read". He said this recently in an interview with John Green, and you can watch the entire clip here.

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Recipe for Rhubarb Grunt:

 

I make this in a shallow oval baking dish. You could also use a pie pan.

 

1/4 cup butter

3/4 cup flour

1 cup sugar, divided

1 teaspoon baking powder

2/3 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

3 cups diced rhubarb

 

Heat oven to 350 degrees. 

 

Melt butter in the baking dish in the oven.  Remove pan from oven.

 

Mix flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, milk and almond extract in a small to medium sized bowl. Pour over melted butter in baking dish. Do not stir!  Cover batter with rhubarb and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup sugar.  Do not mix!

 

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Very yummy served with ice cream but delicious on its own

 

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Shawn, I am wide-eyed with amazement at your cross-stitch.  Holy moly!  How long does a project like that take?

 

 

Well, let's just say it would take a lot longer without Audible.com. :o Seriously though, my last project took 10 months and I've been working on this one for six months. I mostly do it as a wind down activity at night or when I'm waiting for my daughter during ballet class. It's kind of a mindless thing for me to do. I tried to learn crochet but it always made my fingers numb. Needlepoint is easier on the fingers but harder on the eyes.

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I will bring a sweet and a savory.  Maybe lemon drizzle and spinach artichoke dip.  

 

We can watch the start of the Tour de France which is happening in Yorkshire this weekend.   I keep looking at the weather and it is iffy.  We may end up showing off our drizzle to the world.   ;)  The crowds are starting and we are not on the route or close enough for it to be easy to go watch with way too many people.  We will be watching the telly and recording! 

 

Robin, I need to finish House on th Strand before I start Jonathan Strange due to the potential for confusion on my part.  Should be ready to start this weekend.  Should we plan on Sunday?

 

Sunday sounds good!

 

 

 

I'll take stuffed eggplant over rhubarb any day.  :leaving:

 

 

Why yes, I do feel a bit contrarian today. Thank you for asking.  :lol:

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I really like both rhubarb and eggplant.  For one moment I thought Robin was stuffing eggplant with rhubarb.  Yuck!  But have to say I love Rhubarb Crumble and Rhubarb Fool but have no idea how to make either.  Eggplant I like to cook with but no one else in my family eats.  :(

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Enough with the books, let's get back to rhubarb, please...

 

 

 

My mil cooks rhubarb w/ a lot of sugar & just eats it that way. I love it when she does that & I join her. I really need her to teach me (or, like Jenn, show me a rhubarb plant at a minimum) because I have no idea what it is/how it is prepped so that actually becomes this pink, sugary mush that tastes so good.

 

 

I have a recipe for something called Rhubarb Grunt that is divine.  I'll work on posting it or sending it in a PM.

OK, that sounds good, as does shukriyya's gallette...

 

Anything tastes good if you put enough sugar and butter in it, right?  

 

 

 

... But --  as I really think through my cognitive dissonance with rhubarb, here -- rhubarb doesn't look like a sweet.  It looks like it's supposed to be a savory -- it looks like celery, or asparagus or, chopped, it looks like -- wait for it -- eggplant.  

 

 

I'll take stuffed eggplant over rhubarb any day.  :leaving:

 

stuffedeggplantA-1.jpg
 

Why yes, I do feel a bit contrarian today. Thank you for asking.  :lol:

 

And it doesn't taste like a sweet either.  So how come we force it into dessert?  Does anyone have a recipe that treats rhubarb like a vegetable?

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I love this - by Alice Munro

 

A story is not like a road to follow … it’s more like a house. You go inside and stay there for a while, wandering back and forth and settling where you like and discovering how the room and corridors relate to each other, how the world outside is altered by being viewed from these windows. And you, the visitor, the reader, are altered as well by being in this enclosed space, whether it is ample and easy or full of crooked turns, or sparsely or opulently furnished. You can go back again and again, and the house, the story, always contains more than you saw the last time. It also has a sturdy sense of itself of being built out of its own necessity, not just to shelter or beguile you.

 

 

The Genesis of Genius - the tiny hand created books by Charlotte and Branwell Bronte

 

WWI Literature -  Save this post for August when we'll be commemorating WWI with a readalong

 

Be careful or I'll make you all read books with rhubarb in the title.  :lol:

 

 

 

 

Rosie - you can come back now. I've given up on Augustine's Confessions.  

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I love this - by Alice Munro

 

 

The Genesis of Genius - the tiny hand created books by Charlotte and Branwell Bronte

 

WWI Literature -  Save this post for August when we'll be commemorating WWI with a readalong

 

Be careful or I'll make you all read books with rhubarb in the title.  :lol:

 

97db1a9ea4e5166ed59df9fff61f8e54.jpg

 

 

Rosie - you can come back now. I've given up on Augustine's Confessions.  

 

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

 

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Recipe for Rhubarb Grunt:

 

I make this in a shallow oval baking dish. You could also use a pie pan.

 

1/4 cup butter

3/4 cup flour

1 cup sugar, divided

1 teaspoon baking powder

2/3 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

3 cups diced rhubarb

 

Heat oven to 350 degrees. 

 

Melt butter in the baking dish in the oven.  Remove pan from oven.

 

Mix flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, milk and almond extract in a small to medium sized bowl. Pour over melted butter in baking dish. Do not stir!  Cover batter with rhubarb and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup sugar.  Do not mix!

 

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Very yummy served with ice cream but delicious on its own

Jane!  Thank you so much for that recipe.  You can never have too many rhubarb recipes.  I have never heard of grunt before.  As a matter of fact, I just took out a package of rhubarb from the freezer this morning to make muffins  but maybe I will make rhubarb grunt instead.  My kids will get a kick just out of the name itself.

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This sounds divine. People around here just don't understand rhubarb. 

 

Until I was in my 20's, I'd only had rhubarb made into crumble that made my teeth stand on edge. Then I met a rhubarb that became one of my top food experiences, along with a liquorice brûlée. I find it all rather interesting now. It is pleasant to discover that an ingredient can be good when one's mother has thoroughly taught one it wasn't!

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Enough with the books, let's get back to rhubarb, please...

 

 

 

 

 

And it doesn't taste like a sweet either.  So how come we force it into dessert?  Does anyone have a recipe that treats rhubarb like a vegetable?

 

I've heard it's good with pork and in a chutney. 

 

Persian Lamb and Rhubarb Stew

 

Red Lentils and Rhubarb with Indian Spices

 

Actually, the lentil recipe looks good. I still have some rhubarb left. Maybe this weekend. 

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Be careful or I'll make you all read books with rhubarb in the title.  :lol:

 

Naturally, I had to look to see what other (than food) books have rhubarb in the title.  This one actually sounds intriguing:

 

Rhubarb by Craig Silvey

 

"Meet Eleanor Rigby: tiny, blind and left behind. Led by her zealous, overprotective guide dog, Warren, she courses constantly through the places she knows. Tired, mired and sequestered from the world, Eleanor can't shirk the feeling she's going nowhere slowly. Until, of course, she recognises something in the sound of Ewan Dempsey, reclusive and compulsive maker and player of cellos, who impels in Eleanor a rare moment of caprice ..."

 

 

Then there's also ~

 

Rhubarb in the Catbird Seat

 

Rhubarb!: Tales of Survival on a Little Greek Island

 

Lake Wobegon U.S.A.: Rhubarb (Prairie Home Companion)

 

Rhubarb by M.H. Van Keuren

 

Headin' for the Rhubarb!: A New Hampshire Dictionary (Well, Kinda)

 

Rhubarb  and  Son of Rhubarb

 

 

One wonders is there a Bride of Rhubarb?

 

Regards,

Kareni

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Are a buckle and a grunt the same thing? I think so. Mumto2, I grew up with rhubarb fool with generous amounts of creme anglaise poured over it. Wasn't crazy about it though, I preferred rhubarb pie.

 

That grunt looks an awful lot like the way I make blackberry cobbler.

 

A couple of those rhubarb books look interesting. :laugh:

 

 

ETA: I think Headin' for the Rhubarb is going in my Dad's Christmas box.

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I've heard it's good with pork and in a chutney. 

 

Persian Lamb and Rhubarb Stew

 

Red Lentils and Rhubarb with Indian Spices

 

Actually, the lentil recipe looks good. I still have some rhubarb left. Maybe this weekend. 

 

That lentil recipe does look really good! I have used rhubarb in savory dishes before.  It's tartness adds a bright flavor in a pilaf.  (And it is not as weird as it sound-- apricots or cranberries often make their way into side dishes.)

 

The first bands of Arthur have arrived in NC.  The amount of rain and wind we receive will depend on how much the storm wobbles. At the moment we are expecting several inches of rain and tropical storm force winds (40 mph sustained).  Our power lines are buried so I should be in touch with the Internet world today unless something happens to one of the transformers on the mainland side or the major lines to the transformers. 

 

It will be a great day to read and attempt a small quilting project.  (I am not a quilter but I am feeling compelled these days to attempt a few "small" projects.)

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Thunder rumbles in the distance.  My husband is off taking pictures of the surf and possibly surfers.

 

Back to books...

 

For me, life was a fairy tale you invented while keeping your hands stuffed deep in your pockets.

 

This line seems to encapsulate the spirit of Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar's novel The Time Regulation Institute.  It is a farce that takes on the modern bureaucracy. I grinned often when reading this book, laughed aloud as it was reaching its climax.

 

 

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Until I was in my 20's, I'd only had rhubarb made into crumble that made my teeth stand on edge. Then I met a rhubarb that became one of my top food experiences, along with a liquorice brûlée. I find it all rather interesting now. It is pleasant to discover that an ingredient can be good when one's mother has thoroughly taught one it wasn't!

My mom is from the north and loves rhubarb. I only remember not liking the "purple celery" but that crumble recipe makes me curious about trying it again as an adult. I'm sure I can find rhubarb somewhere in Houston if I look hard enough. Right?

 

Now that licorice brûlée recipe, oh please do share! DS and I absolutely LOVE licorice.

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Back to books...

 

Time Between Us turned out to be a sample. I've no idea how it got on my kindle but I was disappointed. I read The Cowboy's E-mail Order Bride instead. Now I think I need to look for a decent mystery.

 

Ya know, the one thing I hate about kindle books is that it doesn't let me read a summary of the book directly in kindle.

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