Once upon a time, there was a fabulous teen librarian who liked to read and to cook about as much as she loved to travel, and nearly as much as she loved a case of the terribles and her crusty sidekick, Le Creuset...
Look at this display vulnerable masculinity, you guys. You know he's strong but kind, and willing to fall for a lady vamp who sneaks in and watches him sleep, just from those manicured nails. This sensitive human dude could squash that apple just like a lady vamps heart if he wanted. But he won't. Because love.
(But seriously - will there be a vampire baby and werewolf love triangle? I have standards, Stephenie.)
Behold the best new concept reality show that will never make it past YouTube. Pranks, awesome snacks, badass ladies... I can't even pick who amuses me more, twitchy angsty teen Bella Swan, or twisty angsty Swede Lisbeth Salander.
You're right, Hermione. Things never do end well for men who turn into animals. Watch out, (were)dudes!
The moment I realized that there was no way those veggies were going in that skillet peacefully.
Just in time for Thanksgiving, what I know you are craving: MORE TURKEY! You're welcome. In truthiness, this is a recipe from the Moosewood Restaurant New Classics Cookbook that I bastardized by substituting ground turkey for the tofu. It's really, really, really good with the tofu. And I had originally planned it as the recipe is - tofu laden. But around mile seven of a ten mile training run for the half-marathon I just ran (yeah, I'm totally smug; also, that's what I've been doing while not following through on New Years resolutions to use Le Creuset more...), I got really, really, really hungry. Tofu is good and filled with protein. But I'm sorry to say vegetarian friends, I was craving the meat of a previously breathing creature like Edward craves Bella.
Woks make for chili autentico, no?
This is totally an appropriate and related reference because I just saw Breaking Dawn and want to talk about it. Obviously. Who do you think I am? It was as truly terrible as I had fervently hoped and dreamed it would be. I'm looking at you, talking wolf scene and awkward and confusing pro v. no choice agenda. (Ps. I encourage you to use these rules when watching. It will end really well for you.) It is a textbook Case of the Terribles. So, anyways, long digression short, I went for turkey. I'm pretty sure you could sub in any meat and it would be delicious, though. It's really the base that makes this. And I assure you, it is delicious. As per usual, I had some problems with realizing I'd underestimated the size of skillets needed. Good thing I had a wok! It's totally a vessel used to cook an authentic chili, right?!? As with any chili, I found it ten times better the next day when all the flavors had deepened and become less bright. Yum! Apologies to Moosewood.
(Bastardized) Moosewood Restaurant New Classics Cookbook Chili with Turkey
I don't know about you guys, but I'm torn from what I see in the photos from The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Charlie and Sam look the same age. Isn't it supposed to be the early 90's? And Charlie looks way too cool. The Charlie in my brain is kind of scrawny, slightly pathetic, a bit squirrelly, kind of a wallflower...AHEM. Thoughts?
Have you been away from the internets all day? Because BIG NEWS, three loyal readers. The Hunger Games trailer dropped today! Get at us Panem! You guys. I don't want to jinx it...but...it is all kinds of good news, in my opinion.
Peeta? That Josh Hutcherson totally looks like he's going to vomit when his name gets called. Effie Trinket? Looks like Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. Perf! Tiny Rue?! A perfectly concrete heavy and stark District 12? Serious and prescient Cinna? And the countdown at the end? SQUEE. TENSION. EXCITEMENT. ANXIETY. And is Haymitch sober? Because his hair isn't. We can't win them all...For the highly scientific breakdown, visit the Forever Young Adult analysis.
As many of you know, I happen to have an occupational predilection towards libraries. They excite me with their stores of fantastic knowledge and excellent organization. Also, the big deal ones? They tend to be kind of architecturally gorgeous. Also: books. They've got them! For all these reasons and more (as in, hello opportunity to visit the worlds first library even though the original was burned like six times so it's really not the real deal but whatever), I was stoked to visit the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. And let me have you know: it is worth a trip. I gasped when I walked in. It is really that impressive, huge, and flat out architecturally gorgeous. I want to go to there every day. I want to work there. I want to sneak in and live there in the way that the kids in From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler live in the Met. No joke. Am I gushing? Is the Pope Catholic? Deal. I warned you of my occupational predilection.
Guilty confession/secret shame: occasionally I read books for adults in addition to books for kids. While there are some respectable titles in the mix (a recent brush with The Road comes to mind), more often than not they happen to have less literarily lofty ambitions. Yes. Are you ready for this jelly? I'm coming out of the I-love-epic-time traveling-paranormal-historical-romance-fiction-novels closet. It is true. I love Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. But this is not a post about an awesome book about a WW2 era English nurse who trips and falls through a mini Stonehenge and time and into the arms of a be-kilted ginger Scot that you should read. It is about another saccharine-y fun book for grownups that I read just the other day!
When I saw a review for A Discovery of Witches in Booklist that compared it to Outlander, I felt I owed it to my freak flag to read it. Abandon ye all hope of getting any sort of respectable, scholarly review below. Pull up a couch and pour yourself a mouthwatering glass of red wine. Appropriately, anytime I use the word mouthwatering, I have an overwhelming urge to say it like this:
Thanks for nothing, Twilight! But why, why is this urge to talk like a ridiculous vampire in Twilight so appropriate? Well, let me tell you all about it.
Ladies and ladies (since I doubt the gents picking this up are few and far between), this book is a mouthwatering mashup of Twilight, Outlander, The Historian, and The Da Vinci Code. Yes. Seriously. Though nowhere near as insane as Outlander, it is epic, it is fun. Our heroine is one sweet young thang, Diana Bishop, a witch hailing from a long line of other witches, including an infamous one in infamously witch-loving Salem, MA. Since her parents bit it suspiciously on a trip to Africa when she was a kid, Diana has been denying herself and the world of her magical powerz through a combination of pensive pre-dawn rowing sessions and a historical study of alchemy. Alchemy being the ye olde science equivalent of magic. Clearly she's doing a great job! On sabbatical to Oxford to fondle some dusty old books in Bodlean, Diana finds and promptly returns a freaky enchanted book, and immediately stumbles into the arms of a hot Doctor. Suspect! Double suspect, he is not just a Doctor! Oh ho! He is a hot VAMPIRE doctor! Matthew Clairmont is impossibly fast and strong, his skin is pale white and ice cold, and sometimes he speaks like he's from a different time! His powers include being hot, being a badass predator, being a doctor, being ascetic, being immortal, having lots of secrets, being part of a vampire gang, and having a penchant for fine wines. If it weren't for the last, I'm pretty sure the Cullen's would have adopted him by now. But I digress!
Turns out a ancient pact of Witches, Vampires, and Ghouls want the book real bad - it may or may not have the secret to magical life tucked away inside and it has been MIA since nigh on forever - and now that everyone knows Diana fondled it, they're all after her. To boot, said secret society also has a rule on intermagical species dating. As the Germans say, VERKLEMPT! Oh snap. But they are not the only secret ancient society out there, and lines are drawn (to steal yet another Stephenie Meyerism) irrevocably. Our heroes are on the run to places near and far, bourgeois and swank, denying their love, proclaiming their love, doing yoga, and sipping wine throughout. Will Diana ever embrace her magical powers? Will Matthew ever not be hot? Will you be able to avoid craving wine while reading this book?
This book is filled with many things you would expect of anything that has been hit with the romance or paranormal genre sticks: hot vampires, breaking in to watch people sleep (aka studying at the school of Edward Stalker Cullen), longing looks, pensive walks in the woods, near death fights, surviving near death fights, dudes carrying girls, girls sitting on dudes laps all the time, declarations of true love, opulent vampire lifestyles, hot baths, etc. But it failed majorly on one count. I was expecting it to be much more smutty. I love smutty books! In fact, there is no. sex. at. all. I'd have given you a spoiler warning, but consider this your sex disappointment warning. What up with that Deborah E. Harkness? No excuses! What is this, Twilight?
At times the story can drag; there was probably way too much scholarly debate in the first half and not nearly enough action. It also becomes clear with 200 pages to go that this book is going to be the first in a series. However, there is a lot to redeem it and judging from the fact that I devoured this book, it's relatively captivating. If you are anything like me, you will probably be amused by the ridiculous wine sniffing activities (turns out Ms. Harkness has a wine blog), Vampire yoga, convenience of Matthew knowing every historical figure mentioned, inclusion of gay primary characters, occasionally clunky dialogue, and (antiquated) semantics of (vampire) marriage. In short, this post is not short and neither is the book. But if you at all like reading series or epic paranormal-time traveling-historical fiction books, this is a strong recommendation!
live in the Met. No joke. Am I gushing? Is the Pope Catholic? Deal. I warned you of my occupational predilection. 
series. But this is not a post about an awesome book about a WW2 era English nurse who trips and falls through a mini Stonehenge and time and into the arms of a be-kilted ginger Scot that you should read. It is about another saccharine-y fun book for grownups that I read just the other day! 
, 
, and 
. Yes. Seriously. Though nowhere near as insane as 