Reading The Hunger Games

You would have to live under a rock if you haven't heard about The Hunger Games yet.  It's the most recent book/movie rage now.  My oldest has read the trilogy and many of her friends have, as well as a few of my friends.  I started reading the first book but had to stop to take care of some real life stuff.  But now I am trying to finish reading.  I've kept my time on Facebook very limited because so many of my friends have seen the movie now.  We've had to wait a bit because we had a scheduling conflict due to responsibilities the kids have in 4-H.  Plus I'm taking a few of oldest's friends with us and some of them had the same responsibilities.

Some of her friends keep telling me to keep reading!  To which, I respond "I want to, but I don't have as much free time as you all do!" And then they laugh.  Hee hee hee.  I read some more last night and need to give a bit of time each day.  Thing is, I know that I will have a hard time putting the book or kindle down once I get going.  And that's the reason I've taken so long since I started.  I'm at the point in the first book where I think the action is going to start in the next chapter.  I'll try to post a review without spoilers when I finish.

My Own Friday Night Knitting Club - Sort of

I know this will make two posts in one day, but I was still on my "knitter's high" from finishing the wool dryer balls yesterday and wanted to get the yarn for MY wool dryer balls.  So this afternoon I made a quick run to my local yarn store.  Note that I said yarn store, not craft store (like JoAnn's or Michael's or A.C. Moore).  I had already been to the craft store last week and wanted to see more selection of wool yarn. 

I drool every time I go to this store.  The colors and textures are just so beautiful and inspiring.  I always look around to see what's different since my last visit.  The owners/employees always seem so nice when I go in.  Today when I walked in, I looked around for about a minute or two before the lady asked if she could help me find something.  I asked her if she had anything on clearance.  She pointed out to me what she had for 40% off.  I went to look.  Beautiful colors and beautiful yarn.  Wools, organic cotton, merino wool, earth colors, beautiful deep rich colors, jewel colors and pastel colors.  I picked out two skeins each of two colors.  Then I decided to look around a bit. 

I saw sock yarn.  Hmmmmm.  No.  I need to pass for now, because I already have sock yarn and socks to knit.  Come back for sure when they are done.  I saw hand beaded yarn.  Drool.  Then I saw 100% Peruvian Wool in a georgous rainbow of colors.  Heavier weight than what I had in my hands, which should take less time winding.  And it would end up costing about the same, if not a little bit less.  I decided to take it to the register and find out which would be better.  She had felted with the Peruvian Wool before and she said it worked well for felting.

What made it feel like The Friday Night Knitting Club to me??? (If you are a reader/knitter and you haven't read it yet, you should. There were two classes going on.  I don't remember seeing that on my other visits.  I knew they had these classes, just not going on when I've been there.  And just being there in the store in this environment makes me think of my dear knitting friends (stateside and overseas) and the friends who just enjoy hanging out with us as we knit.

So I told her about my project and she had never heard about it.  One of the other ladies there was curious as well.  As I made my purchase and prepared to leave, she asked me to bring them in when I finish them.  Come to think of it, I think she said the same thing when I bought my yarn for my Booga Bags too.  Guess I should take in the Booga Bags and the wool dryer balls soon.
Here's the yarn I came home with.  I love these colors and look forward to the finished project.  Believe me when I say, the picture just doesn't do justice for the yarn.  It's prettier in person.

San Marzano Sauce with Linguine a la Nicholas Sparks

I finished reading True Believer by Nicholas Sparks on Sunday. I really enjoyed the book. In the story, the main characters eat an authentic San Marzano pasta sauce with linguine. It sounded so simple and yet divine, that I just had to try it. All it is, is two large cans of San Marzano tomatoes, 1 stick of butter and 2 onions cut in half. Bring to a boil and then turn down to low and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. I cut the onions in half across the width. It smelled insane!

The San Marzano tomatoes were whole, so I thought that over the 1 1/2 hours of simmering that they would breakdown a bit and they did. I thought it was interesting to put the onions in the sauce in the large halves. I used Vidalia onions. I thought that the onions would soften up and maybe separate during the simmering. Pretty good guess! Not all of the onion separated, but enough did. I would have never put onions in like that, except that the character of the book stated that dicing the onions would ruin the sauce that she learned to make from her restaurant owning grandmother. The onions had a texture that no store bought sauce could match! It was so good! Apparently, I was raving about it through dinner...at least that what my daughter said!

I served the pasta with a salad and biscuits. I will definitely be making this again!

Reading Cookbooks???

First of all, I was thrilled yesterday to receive my box a day early!!!! I opened it yesterday and flipped through the cookbooks and my other book!

Betsy posed the question to Beverly and I a few days ago "who reads a cookbook?" I admitted to her that I have done that before and was in the process of reading The Flavor Bible, to see if it was worth owning my own copy. I have the library's right now. When Betsy arrived in France, they had a small apartment that they stayed in for a few days and no tv, so she started to read MAFC. When I looked at my copy (and I'm excited to have the same exact copy as Betsy), I saw that it is indeed a good idea to read first before trying a recipe. It's sort of a cookbook textbook. I'm okay with that. I'll be self educating in more fancy cooking without having to go to a school! Apparently the recipes increase in difficulty as you learn the techniques. I have to admit to you right now, that I don't have the time to go through this cookbook in one year like Julie Powell did. I also can't make every single recipe due to some of the food allergies in our family. But, I will try as many as I can and will post my experiences.

I also need to read through the beginning of AB in 5 Min. a Day because it's also new techniques. Therefore, I will be spending some time reading and preparing for my first recipes in these books. I'll try to post about other things I'm trying out in the meantime.

I was going to make some Oreo truffles today, until I found out that the bulk box I had bought to do this no longer has the amount of cookies I need left. I will have to wait until I go to Costco again to pick up more. Maybe before the week is over, since we may have another winter storm coming our way and I just may need to do a stocking up run again.

I found a recipe for Curried Meat in one of my other cookbooks yesterday. It is bascially a master recipe with variations to change it up. I may try to make some curried chicken before the week is over.

That's all for now. I'm going to watch some Olympics and knit for a while.