Sure It's Monday, But a Three-Day Weekend is at the End of This Week!

The weather in my neck of the woods was wonderful this weekend, the temps dropped from intolerable to tolerable.  A local brewery released their Oktoberfest beer and I was very tempted to see if it was possible to go there and stay away from everyone and have my first beer of the fall season. I am planning to taste some new fall beers this year and write about them as I did in the fall of 2017. I also plan to read some beer-centered cozy mysteries!

It's the last day of August, and as you can see I'm working on planning my fall.  On my to-do list for today, I have allotted time to reflect on August and plan September.  If that sounds good to you, join me in doing this practice each month.  I write about the highlights and low lights of the month and then review my planner and see what I want to do in the upcoming month.


I read a novella from a book series I really enjoy over the weekend. I loved that it was set up in classic mystery style, think Agatha Christie or Clue. Everyone had means and motive, and the Main Character had to solve it.  Lots of fun! My review is below-

Diamond Fire by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is done as a classic mystery, everyone involved is at the Rogan family estate and
Catalina is our detective. There is also the comedy that comes from planning a wedding and I enjoyed seeing the wedding planning from Catalina's perspective as well as the scenes with Mrs. Rogan. It was also fun to read how Ilona Andrews had a Sherlock Holmes climax were the mystery was revealed to all the suspects present. I'm already halfway through the next book in the series, the Hidden Legacy series is so hard to put down!


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Slow Cooker Experiment --And a Book Review!

I had a small boneless pork roast, a cabbage that needed to be used, and a couple bottles of sauces that needed to be used (Teriyaki and BBQ). Chopped up some cabbage and onion added that all to the slow cooker and crossed my fingers.

 When the pork was done I took some of it, shredded it and had it on a brioche bun w/coleslaw.

Then I made a sort of fried rice. I stir-fried cabbage and onions, added a bag of frozen peas and carrots a flew liberal pours of soy sauce, a couple tablespoons of butter and about 3 cups of cooked brown rice stir-fried it all together for a couple minutes. Oh, I forgot I scrambled a couple of eggs and added them as well.   To my dismay I didn't realize BMO who is a big fan of fried rice, doesn't like peas. He said he would pick them out. :-) 

If you are looking for a very engaging short-read with a distinctive voice check out this book!

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book for a monthly book club, it was on my tbr pile already, now I'm looking forward to hearing what others thought. As the title lets you know Korede's sister is a serial killer. The book takes place in Lagos, Nigeria. I enjoyed the setting, this dark noir book still has a good amount of food talk and I found myself looking up a couple of dishes to add to my list of recipes I need to try.

This is a slim bo0k, I am not sure of the specific cut off for a book to be a novella but this one is about 230 pages long. It's short enough that when you're swept away and want to finish the book in one afternoon, you can do just that. Or you can read it on a few lunch breaks.

I think as the story goes on I liked Korede less and Ayoola more. Interesting. In any case, this book is a worthy read and gives the reader plenty to think about once the book is done.

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Just When I Thought Summer Was Ending!

I was getting hyped up for Fall, was even going to make a new soup recipe this week, and then I looked at my app and it's going to be in the 90s all week. Today it was 97. All my weeks of working hard to avoid putting on the air conditioning, down the drain!

Pretty funny actually, it's August in Chicago, why would I think we would be done having temperatures in the 90s Ha! In deference to the weather, I started off my day by having watermelon.  A very good choice.  Have you ever tried a savory watermelon salad?  I have seen variations of Watermelon/Basil/Cucumber/Feta Cheese Salads but I am not sure if I am ready to give it a try. I do like spinach salad with feta cheese and strawberries, I wonder if it is similar.

Then there is the whole cutting of the watermelon! The hubs kept buying big watermelons, but then I have to use all the plastic containers that still have lids to get the cut watermelon packaged up and then it takes up a ton of room in the fridge!

Because of the heat, I ran earlier so I didn't melt into a puddle on the sidewalk.  Today I ran with music, but often I will listen to an audiobook.  Recently I listened to one I borrowed from my public library, it was excellent!  My review is below!

Slay by Brittney Morris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I listened to an hour of this book while running on Friday and then on Saturday I listened to it while running, doing dishes, cooking, sitting in a chair, eating, etc. etc. I had to finish it, I had to know how Kiera weathered the storm.

Brittney does such a masterful job creating Kiera's world and the world of Slay. I could picture how the game would look and sound as I read. How wonderful it would be if Slay did exist.

One of my favorite things about the book is the expanded POV chapters. Not only do we get Keira and Claires POVs but we step into the shoes of a variety of players.

I'm so happy that this book is out in the world for all those gamers who don't usually see themselves in fiction.


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Who's Almost Hit Their Fundraising Goal? This Girl!

Tomorrow I am participating in the Imerman Angels Brunch Run - Virtual 5K!  This is a real bummer because I was looking forward to participating in this in person- Bruch Food! Mimosas! Supporting a great organization!  And I would have met my Angel Mentor Margot IRL!   super sad face emoji. 

However as anyone who has ever had a cancer diagnosis knows, sometimes you just have to roll with the changes.   I've run fewer miles this week and plan to have nice fresh legs for my run tomorrow so I can give the virtual race my all.  I'll be posting on my Instagram account @Victoria7401 if you want to see how it goes.  

Thanks to everyone who has donated to my fundraising! Because of all of you, I am only $90!  Away from my goal!  Please pat yourself on the back if you have already given and have a mimosa on me tomorrow! If you can please share my fundraising on your social media- every share helps!  Link to my page!

Happy Friday!

xoxo

Clear Blue Skies All Day Today 

Who doesn't love food talk?

As you know I love to talk about food, today I tried a new recipe from Real Simple magazine.  This is a good entree salad.  The Hubs forget to get pita bread at the store so I made garlic bread instead with some leftover french bread that was in the back of the fridge and was probably a day away from going stale. I added fresh sliced tomatoes from the garden to the recipe and also some chopped scallions that were getting old--wanted to use those up.  Other than that, I followed the recipe.  The hubs liked it, and he is tough to please.  Overall I find that Real Simple recipes are relatively easy and don't need too much alteration to taste good.  Oh BTW I did add two garlic cloves instead of one.  I think if you like garlic you could do three or four cloves.  The cloves I used were really big. Yum!

If you are like me and you love food talk, and you really really love Thanksgiving food talk.  You will probably like this book!


The Diva Runs Out of Thyme by Krista Davis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the August book for The Cozy Mystery Book Club - a youtube book club- We will be talking about the book and getting to hear from the author! On 8/25/2020 at 7pm EST Join Us!

Here is my spoiler-free review. I completely enjoyed this quintessential cozy mystery. Ms. Davis does a fantastic job weaving cooking into the sleuthing. I stopped reading to take notes on how to make the pork tenderloin Sophie cooks.

Even with a pretty large cast of characters, Krisa Davis is able to give depth and personality to everyone--even Otis and Humphrey. Sometimes when you read the first book in a cozy series, so many characters are introduced that it can be hard to keep everyone straight. In this book, this is not a problem. We also get just enough of a taste of some of the side characters, that we are left wanting to read the next book not only to find out about Sophie--but also more about Bernie, Craig, and what about that Peeping Tom?

Each chapter starts with a little advice column content which is funny and connects to something in the upcoming chapter. I like this, it was a nice touch.

The book takes place over the Thanksgiving Holiday and the book is filled with the vibes of late fall, you can almost smell the turkey and pumpkin pie. Ms. Davis's writing kept me turning the pages and dreaming about fall cooking.


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Before We Know It...

Before we know it, it will be cool outside and I want to be ready to enjoy the soup season!  Soup is a great meal to make because you can have it as dinner the first day, and lunch the next, and then have it with a sandwich for dinner the next day! If there is any left, you can freeze it. Soup is also great for using up random stuff you have in the pantry, fridge, or freezer.

I found this recipe in Women's Day magazine and gave it a go recently. Honestly, I had to add many spices to give the base recipe flavor.  Originally it tasted like kale and tomato water. So here is my interpretation of the recipe. I also made brown rice and rotini so you could put pasta or rice in the bowl and pour soup over the pasta/rice. The recipe is called stew but it isn't the consistency of stew, it's a soup. You could also top the soup with cheddar, mozzarella, or parmesan cheese.

The finished meal

 The original recipe

Spices I added: I used bullion cubes vs plain water. I didn't have lemon zest so I added a Chili Powder blend that has chili powder, cumin, and coriander.  (about 1/2 a tbsp) 1 tablespoon seasoned pepper, 1 tablespoon Garlic Garlic, and 1 tsp of A Seasoning for Everything.

I also cooked the soup longer b/c cooking the kale and tomatoes for approx 8 minutes was not working. I cooked it for around 20-30 min. I added a cup of chopped zucchini in the last 10 minutes of cooking because I needed to cook what we had from the garden.


Here is a good YA book if you are looking for a fantasy tale to listen to as you cook or work or relax before bed:

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a quality YA Fantasy. I listened to the audiobook and the two narrators did an excellent job. I enjoyed the twists and turns of the book and the world-building. I hope I recalling correctly when I say this should be appropriate for middle-grade readers.

I enjoyed watching Karina and Malik come into a better understanding of themselves. I think this book has the right mix of tropes that one expects in a YA fantasy without making the story suffer. A big plus is that the book is inspired by West African folklore, and I am not familiar with that folklore so that was fun to read.

I am looking forward to the sequel which I will listen to versus reading since I enjoyed the readers.


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Back to School?

I am here to tell you that if you have school-aged children, you do not need to spend any time purchasing back to school clothes, completing supply lists before the first day of school ( whatever that looks like), or taking the first day of school picture.  Whatever you are doing, is good enough, period. 

Since I am now, according to Anna, a stay at home mom. I am trying to help the boys navigate their first days as their respective colleges.  Basically, I am reminding them to check their dashboards daily and nagging them to figure out what books they need and when they need to be where. Now if they were able to physically go to school, I would not be doing this, but since everything is changing moment by moment, I'm helping coordinate. 

Honestly helping the kids get the pandemic school year started off right helps me to not obsess over worrying about having a breast cancer recurrence. I have to schedule a CT scan for early September. Why should I be worried about a routine to follow up test? I shouldn't be, however, I am because that's how a post-traumatic stress trigger works.  Can I do anything about it?  All I can do is utilize my box of tools: 1. run, 2. write, 3. distract myself, 4. schedule a worrying time, or 5. attempt to use logic to offset my emotional response.

Speaking of distractions, my local public library had a take and make craft this week!  Look I made a light-up fairy garden! 

And another book review- reading or listening to books is my favorite distraction! 

Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hey Hey this book is older than me. Some of the language and tropes are quite outdated. I listened to the audiobook. The reader was very good. I figured out part of the mystery fairly early on and then listened to see if I was right and for the answers to other questions that were raised.

I haven't read any Hercule Poirot since I was like a kid and that was literally over 30 years ago, so I don't remember if this is typical of HP. If you like Agatha Christie books, obviously you'll enjoy this. If you are looking for a seasonal mystery, there is enough Halloween content to make this a worthy read.

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Is It Just Me?

This is my second full week without a job. Seems like the days go by faster without a job. Then again, it seemed like a week took three months back in April when we were under the Stay At Home Order. I'll have to think about this some more. Since I am home full-time, I have a new goal to read three books a week. I just pulled this idea out of the ether, I am hoping it will get me to spend less time scrolling social media and more time reading. We will see how that goes.

I finished a book today, a new release, and my review is below. Next up will likely be "The Diva Runs Out Of Thyme"  I'm reading that for the Cozy Mystery Book Club.  You can join the book club live stream here

A Forgotten Murder by Jude Deveraux
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is another book I put on hold before the pandemic and don't know why I originally put it on hold! In any case, this was my first experience with a Medlar Mystery by Jude Deveraux. I enjoyed how Ms. Deveraux uses three main POVs in the third person. Because I am currently also reading Dead Land by Sara Paretsky and the character Sara Medlar is a world-famous author in this book, I pictured Sara Paretsky as Sara Medlar while reading.

The English Estate was a nice setting, very Midsommer Murders. I enjoyed that there were multiple mysteries that unfold as you read. As always it is lovely when the baddies get their comeuppance. I have limited patience for long-term will they/won't they, and it looks like Jack and Kate have been dancing around becoming a couple for quite some time. I would hope that in the next book they finally do. I did enjoy their banter.

All in all a good mystery. Would make a nice Netflix film!


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Posting Cause It's My Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Mark your calendar, when we have a handle on COVID-19, I'm going to have a big party.  There will be charcuterie trays and chilled wine and hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill and craft beers.  There will be a great playlist of groovy hits from the 70s and 2020's modern psychedelic music.  There will be cake! There will be flowers! There will be party favors from me to you!

In the meantime, I finished a book I was reading, if anyone else reads it, let me know what you think!

To Kill a Mocking Girl by Harper Kincaid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fast-moving cozy mystery. I won this book by participating in the Cozy Mystery Book Club monthly live stream. If you have not checked out the Cozy Mystery Book Club you can find it on youtube, twitter, Instagram. A monthly live stream devoted to the first book in a cozy mystery series. This review was not a condition of the prize. I am reviewing the book because I like to add reviews for all the books I read.

Ms. Kincaid does a nice job of creating the lovely town of Vienna, VA, and inviting us in to visit. Quinn the MC has lived abroad as a teacher for the past few years but now she has returned home and earns a living as a bookbinder. Basically, she restores all types of old books from first edition collector's items to beloved HS yearbooks. Harper Kincaid does a nice job using Quinn's job to further the plot. If you enjoy a cozy with a pet as a fairly central character you will enjoy this book. There is a nice bit of food talk, bookbinder talk, and fungi hunting- so some interesting people and hobbies in this book--all the little things that make cozies cozy.

While I was reading, I was not sure what to make of Quinn because at times she is smart and sensible and other times seems obtuse.
To me, she seemed immature and that didn't match up with her background as someone who has lived and worked in other countries. I wondered if this was because she is back home and sometimes when we go back home as adults we find ourselves regressing back to how we dealt with life when we were teens/kids, and the people around us see us as the young person we are not any longer. It seemed pretty clear that her brother, for example, still sees her as a kid and she thinks Aiden sees her as a kid. If this is the case, that she has regressed in her growth and independence, I would love to see her address that in the next book and to have the next book give us more info on her life abroad.

Now I am not sure if Harper Kincaid wants me to like or dislike Aiden- I did finish the book hoping that Quinn will date Aiden, work through the fulfillment of a childhood dream and then move on to someone else! Yes, that's right I don't like Aiden. Yes, he is into Quinn but he is way too paternalistic and I don't like it. :-) I esp. did not like the installation of cameras in or around Quinn's house. What the heck. (I know the brother was involved too--I don't like it!) Thank you for getting me riled up Ms. Kincaid. (smiley face emoji) If there is a #TeamNOT Q&A sign me up. Maybe there can be a new guy who comes to town to teach at the local college and he is a super cute biologist who enjoys mushroom hunting and hangs out with Quinn's dad and Quinn and Science guy can meet-cute over a dead body?

Oh, one last thing, I really liked the rehabilitation of one character at the end, I hope that character is featured as the series continues.


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Who Wants Some Free Kindle Mysteries? Read On!

Tomorrow is a milestone birthday for me. No party due to this doggone COVID-19  No birthday vacation trip due to this doggone COVID-19.  However, unlike last year--I have all my hair! Sure it's white, and now people assume I am 65, not 40-something--but I'll take the win where I can get them.  Maybe for my big birthday, I'll dye my hair purple. We will see!

In honor of my isolated milestone birthday, I figured I would post freebies. Today I'm posting free Kindle books on Amazon.  I haven't read these books, so I don't vouch for anything outside the fact that they are free and I liked the cover.  You can read them on a Kindle or on a laptop/iPad or smartphone, just download the free Kindle App.

Happy Sunday!
xoxo

In Which I Join the Ranks of the Unemployed

This doggone pandemic!  I worked throughout chemo and radiation, and now here I am no longer working.  Rude. It pisses me off, that while cancer treatment didn't defeat my work ethic, potentially catching COVID-19 and drowning in my own lung secretions has defeated my work ethic. 

Fortunately, we, knock on wood, should be OK. The hubs has been able to work fully remote for months now and the boys have good aid packages for college.  Maybe I'll find something I can do 100% from home that pays a wage. I am not interested in signing up to sell anything.

In the meantime, I am working on being a writer. Not working means no excuse not to write!  I feel lucky to have found so many webinars, seminars, and writing groups that are free and held virtually. I also am able to volunteer to make phone calls to remind people to fill out their census!  (Just go here, it only takes 10 minutes.)

And as always I am more grateful than ever for my public library. I won a $50 Rainbow Cone gift card in the Summer Reading Challenge. My staying home already paying off for the family.

Here is my latest book review. This was a good one!


Murder on Pleasant Avenue by Victoria Thompson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I put this book on hold at my local library during the COVID closure, so I don't even recall why I put the book on hold in the first place!

This is my first gaslight mystery, it is also book #23 in the series--who knew? Obviously not me! As I read I realized there was backstory I wasn't aware of because I was coming to the series so late, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment.

Victoria Thompson does a nice job of making this book a good read even if you have no experience with the cast of characters. My experience with cozy mysteries has been limited to the contemporary and paranormal, this was my first foray into a cozy historical. The book takes place at the turn of the century, (1900) and it was nice to time travel as a reader. Not only do I get a mystery to solve, but I learn more about the day-t0-day life for various social classes in this time period.

I really liked the comments about Teddy Roosevelt and how it would be a step down for him to accept the V.P. slot to President McKinley. I know what happens next! (and that is its own murder mystery) Will Frank and Sarah be involved in that part of our U.S. History? I would like to read that.



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Geared for the Grave- Mackinac Island Mystery!

As I continue to write and learn about writing, the advice I most often encounter from published writers is to read what you want to write.  Because my writing goal is to write something I hope other people will enjoy as an escape from everyday troubles, I get to read lots of cozy mysteries. 

Here is one I listened to for the Library Challenge last month-

Geared for the Grave by Duffy Brown
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Duffy Brown does a wonderful job of not just introducing us to a very eclectic group of townspeople, we also get a decent mystery to solve. Just when you think you've solved the murder, a new clue is revealed that cast doubt on another person.

The book is set on Mackinac Island--now I know that vehicles aren't allowed and fudge is plentiful, but I do not know if the local residents actually call visitors 'fudgies' . Frankly, I hope they do!

Evie makes for a good main character, she isn't naive and she can mostly take care of herself. I listened to this book via the Libby app from my library. The reader for this series is fantastic! I loved her voicing of "Irish Donna," her brogue is on point!

Overall I loved the cheeky humor in the book as well as the pacing. 5 solid stars. For the cost of a library card, you can take a vacation to Mackinac Island!


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