Bookmark FAIL

So, I realized that I have been giving out my MooMiniCards with the wordpress address instead of the blogger address. So if you’ve met me in the last little while and are wondering when the heck I’m going to update my blog, I’ve been doing it–just not here!

Anyway, I’ll be backing up my posts on this blog from now on, so bookmark me wherever you like.

Trying out this new layout. Hmm!

Trying out this new layout. Hmm!

Oh yeah!

Just a quick note to say this blog will be moving to http://frootjoos.blogspot.com/ sometime this week. You can enter the Fallen contest on that blog.

Mad Hungry: Feeding Men & Boys

Mad Hungry: Feeding Men & Boys by Lucinda Scala Quinn

This is what I got my godson for Christmas. He’s 13 and getting interested in cooking–I’m glad! I’m also hoping the end result will taste good and end up in my belly.

Husband, for the record, was intimidated by cooking to the point where he didn’t attempt making anything from scratch until after watching 9 years’ worth of Alton Brown’s Good Eats. He can now make pot roast, burgers (with freezer fries), chocolate chip cookies (really good ones!) and he can finally run the rice cooker without screwing it up.

Other good cookbooks that don’t look too girly and are not written in scary specialized culinary language:

How to Cook by Raymond Sokolov

Seriously, a great book for someone who’s never even mashed a potato before.

Eat Me: The Food & Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin

Be prepared for swearing. There’s lots of swearing. Don’t miss the great intro by Calvin Trillin, who explains the institution and culture of Shopsin’s.

Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson

Ok, this last one is a bit girly-looking and pink. But the recipes are really easy, fast, written in simple language, and let’s face it, Nigella’s voluptuous figure provides a bit of extra eye-candy in addition to the mouthwatering food. I don’t think the guys will mind.

For those who are already expert in the kitchen:

Momofuku by David Chang & Peter Meehan

This one scares even me. But I really really want to make my own ramen someday.

I’m in love with hors d’oeuvres. I think that’s all I’ll eat next year.

Martha Stewart’s Hors d’Oeuvres Handbook

Sorry, I forgot to schedule the last day’s posts. Making up for lost time.

This is going to be my Mastering the Art of French Cooking 365 project for 2010 (Julie & Julia style, and in case you haven’t heard of the book or the movie, here you go):

Martha Stewart’s Hors d’Oeuvres Handbook

I have decided that better than dessert, I love hors d’oeuvres best out of the meal courses and would like to become more proficient at making them. Husband has a pretty damn good stuffed mushroom thing he makes; and for my last knitting party I made cucumber sandwiches, smoked salmon on toast, prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, chicken salad sandwiches, tiny ham sandwiches, and cut the crusts off everything! (And a special sneaky treat for the husband: anchovy toasts. He ate 3 big slices!)

It was marvelous.

So I’ll be getting a little sort of running start with the two family Christmas parties we’re attending (one on the 20th and the other on the 25th), photos will be taken, and I’m sure a blog of some sort will be written. I’m already planning ahead for January and what I’m going to make every day.

Mmm! Where to begin? molasses-glazes ribs? pizza with wild mushrooms and fontina? shrimp shumai? I smell happiness around the corner.

That’s what’s In My Mailbox (part 9 of 48)… What’s in yours?

The Broken Teaglass

I was going to walk out of there without perusing every single shelf in the damn store, but…

The Broken Teaglass by Emily Arsenault

Jackety-flap:

The dusty files of a venerable dictionary publisher . . . a hidden cache of coded clues . . . a story written by a phantom author . . . an unsolved murder in a gritty urban park–all collide memorably in Emily Arsenault’s magnificent debut, at once a teasing literary puzzle, an ingenious suspense novel, and an exploration of definitions: of words, of who we are, and of the stories we choose to define us.

Charged with wit and intelligence, set against a sweetly cautious love story, The Broken Teaglass is a tale that will delight lovers of words, lovers of mysteries, and fans of smart, funny, brilliantly inventive fiction.

- – -

Mystery + wordplay + tea = sold!

That’s what’s In My Mailbox (part 8 of 48)… What, did you think I was kidding about posting a new one every 6 hours? What’s in yours?

Ad Hoc at Home

Look, I don’t think I really need to explain this one. Read it and drool.

I managed to limit myself to only 3 cookbooks in my massive, last-gasp final purchase–one for me, one for hubby, and one for a gift. This one is hubby’s.

That’s what’s In My Mailbox (part 7 of 48)… What’s in yours?

Secret Society Girl

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of the author of Rampant.

So on one of my last book-buying binges as an employee-discount-receiving person I bought one of her other novels.

Secret Society Girl by Diana Peterfreund

Commence jackety blurb:

In a fabulous blend of the bestselling traditions of Prep and The Devil Wears Prada, Secret Society Girl takes us into the heart of the Ivy League’s ultraexclusive secret societies when a young woman is invited to join as one of their first female members.

Elite Eli University junior Amy Haskel never expected to be tapped into Rose & Grave, the country’s most powerful—and notorious—secret society. She isn’t rich, politically connected, or…well, male.

So when Amy receives the distinctive black-lined invitation with the Rose & Grave seal, she’s blown away. Could they really mean her?

- – -

Having some serious Gilmore Girls flashbacks? Me too. And loving every moment.

That’s what’s In My Mailbox (part 6 of 48)… What’s in yours?

Fallen

You know how angels are the new vampires? I can’t help but think of that when I read the title; yet I am hoping that there will be a little more than just that substitution formula at work here.

Fallen by Lauren Kate

There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce–and goes out of his way to make that very clear–she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, Fallen is a page turning thriller and the ultimate love story.

- – -

Also, apparently the South is the new Northwest. ^_^ I’m just saying.

Already giving me unpleasant flashes of Dreaming Anastasia, but not so unpleasant that I’ll stop reading. Her other book looks cool, too! (That’s a lot of o’s!)

That’s what’s In My Mailbox (part 5 of 48)… What’s in yours?

Ah the leisure of the slightly unemployed

Most of my readers know I have worked for the same bookstore on and off for the last 13 years. I recently (i.e. Saturday) gave up my post there in the interest of

a) sanity
b) health
c) school
and
d) more time to read.

I have a few entrepreneur/freelance bits going on, and in a couple of weeks I will find out if I can get some work at school. Who knows, I may end up going back, owing to the economic situation being less than ideal… We’ll see. For now, I am free!

In the meantime, I was going to start writing the longest IMM ever, because in the last 2 weeks I have acquired a ridiculous amount of books, both ARCs and the paid-for-by-me kind.

I decided to break it up a little bit, so you don’t have to sit through it all at once. By my math, I have enough book acquisitions to post 4x a day for the next two weeks. Enjoy!