Where Has This Week Gone?

I am not sure.  It seems as though we have slipped from lazy summer days to crisp fast fall ones.

Is it because the days are shorter and it gets darker sooner?

Am I being cheated out of precious daylight?

I just finished reading Lisa McMann's

Cryer's Cross.

It was intense and gripping.

Scary, too.

I was just sent all of Louise Gaylord's mysteries. Thank you Sami and Ellen.

Yummy cozy mysteries.

I can't wait to read them. 

I am reading a book about dragons right now.

It is really good...a boy turns into a dragon...bit by bit...

Fire and everything.

Mean parents.

Really good stuff.

Oh...and my bread?

It was so delicious.

Easy and fun and very doable...even if you have a fear of yeast!!!

I put Lucy in her stroller and we went for a long walk this afternoon.

Get this...we were both wearing oversized gray hoodies.

Hoods were up...of course.

So now I feel as though we are all caught up...

It's Friday night almost.

I do not make dinner on Friday night.

I do not think about dinner on Friday night.

So I am not sure if there will be dinner this Friday night.

Sushi or some other carry in...but Den and I have both had a craving for Sloppy Joe's...the kind our moms always made.

The real homemade kind that you got to eat when you were little made with Hunt's Manwich and soft buns and Tater Tots...

Friday night comfort food.

Are you settled in for the night?

I hope we are.

Today Is A Biga Day!!!

Yesterday...thanks to Allison from...A Tasteful Garden...I made a biga...so exciting...

Really it is.

Allison is from Maine and her blog is just beautiful.  She has chickens!!!

I really want chickens.

She lives in Maine.

I really want to live in Maine.

She has an amazing garden that is photogenic even when it is the end of the season.

My garden seems to always look ridiculous and nothing really grows.

Did I mention her chickens?

I really want chickens.

If she ever gets a goat...a baby goat...

I will be insane.

I have serious blog envy for Alison's blog.

Actually I have serious envy for those chickens.

I need to calm down. 

Check it out and you will know exactly what I am talking about.

Chickens...goats...a garden...and Maine...

In a nutshell that is all I need to continue to be happy.

Plus online shopping.

And a horse.

And my Kindle.

And my iPAD...

I think that will do it.

So...Allison makes her own homemade ciabatta bread and it starts with a biga.

A biga is yeast and water and flour and it sits out overnight and you use it in the bread.

Mine was an amazing site this morning.

Smooth and yeasty.

It is now mixed with more flour and it is resting comfortably on top of the dryer.

Shhhhh.

The last time I left a bowl of dough out to rise Lucy sat on it.

Now I hide it.

I will bake it later and hopefully I will have two lovely loves of ciabatta bread.

Oh boy!!!

Mythology With A Twist...A Review...

My own speedy summary…

Zoe is a 16 year old who does not really fit in…not at school, not with her “friends”, pretty much not anywhere.  She is studious and quiet and prefers to sort of watch life as opposed to being a real participant.  Zoe doesn’t get a lot of things…why she has a cowlick in her curly hair, why relationships are so hard, why everyone else has more cosmetics than she does.  She spends most of the year away at school and spends summers on digs with her archeologist aunt and uncle.  This has been Zoe’s life since the death of her parents years ago.

My thoughts during and after reading The Dig…

Ok…Zoe goes off exploring and touches or pushes at something that she perceives to be a huge iPhone.  When she wakes up she is in the past to the time when gods and goddesses ruled while chilling out on top of Mount Olympus.  Zoe finds herself with some powers…unfortunately nothing glam…she is powerful with dirt…lol…and under the scrutiny of these gods and goddesses who are her age and remind Zoe of the people she goes to school with.  These gods are described with a keen sense of humor.  There is a really cute guy and mean girl and a bully and followers…sort of a typical high school in crowd…only with names like Zeus, Artemis, Poseidon and Hera…among others.  There are two who remind Zoe of a couple on MTV’s Jersey Shore, one who could be in a Lifetime movie and no one is very nice to her other than Zeus.

When Zoe tries to explain to Hera that gods don’t exist in the real world and that if anyone is worshipped it is someone like Kim Kardashian…she sort of sets off a rage in the gods that cannot be stopped…and Hera is especially furious and enraged because Zeus seems to prefer Zoe and not her.  These narcissistic high schoolers in god and goddess bodies want Zoe gone…in the worst way.

I totally loved this book.  The combined wit and humor and cleverness in the dialog was so much fun.  Favorite line?  Hera describing Zoe as “dangerous and unpredictable” and Zoe responding by stating that in her world those are the names of celebrity perfumes.  I loved the mix of teaching and humor.  I think readers will learn and laugh while reading this book.  I did.

Target audience for this book?  That would be anyone…middle grades , high school grades and anyone who loves YA with a little bit of a hit…funny snarky good humor.

I adored that part of this book.

Audrey Hart has her own style.  I loved reading about these characters.  She made a book about mythology interesting and lively.  There was adventure and danger and excitement.

There was an ending that is making me crave more…but it is a trilogy so hopefully that will happen in a timely manner.



Slow Cooker Chocolate Cake...Slow Cooking Away!!!

I love trying new things.

In books, clothes, recipes, trends.

Off with the old on with the new!!!

That is my motto.

We rarely have the same dinner more than once in any given month.

Except for pasta.

Remember...I am half Italian.

This is in my slow cooker right now.

It's cake!!!

Can you freaking believe it?

Chocolate gooey cake.

OMG.

It's what's for dinner tonight.

I found it on a blog called Cheeky Kitchen.  I linked to it for you.

We are now the opposite of Sunday dinner people.

No cooking on Sunday in this house!!!

Hurray for undinners!!!

We had waffles...whole grain and homemade...for breakfast and they were amazing. 

That was a first time recipe, too, but I will make those again and again and again.

We are either going to get sandwiches...an amazing one called a BOBBY...from a local sandwich place near us...a BOBBY has cranberry sauce and real roasted turkey and stuffing on it...on the best sort of hoagie bun ever...

Pickles and chips complete the dinner.

If we don't do that we will just eat cake.

Or a nitrate free organic hot dog...yum...

And cake...have I mentioned the slow cooker cake?

Right now our entire house smells sort of chocolately.

The directions for the cake say to scoop it in a bowl with ice cream.

There is vanilla gelato in our freezer...waiting for the slowly cooking slow cooker cake!!!

Happy Sunday!!!