Hey all – Happy Monday! It was a nice weekend with friends and family… my class reunion, campfire, and yes – a little reading too. The It’s Monday What Are You Reading is hosted by Book Date.
Last Tuesday, our Book Club, the Bookies, met on a gorgeous evening by the lake to discuss Hail Mary by Andy Weir. It was a great discussion, and we had some great themed food!
Every October, we read a classic, and this year’s pick is The House of Seven Gables by Nathanial Hawthorne. Fun fact: In October of 2022, my friends, Cindy, Sara, Heidi, and I took a trip to Boston and, among other things, toured the House of Seven Gables in Salem, Massachusetts. At the gift shop on the property, I picked up my copy of the book. (More on this when I read and write my review.)
I flew through Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt ( review will be up this week) and then, looking for my next audio to listen to while taking the dogs for a walk, I tried Charlie Sheen’s Memoir, The Book Of Sheen, and that lasted all of five minutes. What I was hoping for was to hear a telling of the movies he was in, having fond memories of first seeing Platoon, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off ( small but funny role), Major League, Wall Street, Hot Shots, and of course, Two and A Half Men…
And, to be fair, maybe the book would have gotten there; however, the first five minutes that I would describe as crude were enough for me to decide that this probably wasn’t what I wanted to listen to.
If you do read/listen to this one, I’d love to hear what you thought 🙂
SO… That said, I moved on to What Lies In The Woods by Kate Alice Marshall, and so far am enjoying this.
In other random things… yesterday afternoon I cleaned up the last of my summer squash from my deck garden… I found a recipe for Roasted Zucchini with Feta and Dill Soup (cha-ching!!!) SO SO Good!
Here’s the gist of it:
Slice up 4 medium-sized summer squash (I had one giant one as well as 3 smaller, so I think I was over this amount, but I made a bigger pot)
Rough chop one yellow onion
4-8 peeled Garlic Cloves (I went 8, I LOVE Garlic! #notavampire)
I put all of this in a large bowl and tossed it with salt and pepper, olive oil, and then put it on a large cookie sheet to roast in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes at 400 degrees.
When this was done, I added this in portions to my blender with Vegetable Broth – blending until smooth and then adding it to a large stove pot until I made it through all of it. The recipe called for 4 cups of Vegetable Broth, I used 6 because I believe I had more Squash than it called for 🙂
Once all this is in the pot, heat to a low simmer. Once simmering, add in one cup of Crumbled Feta, 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice, and 1/2 cup of Plain Greek Yogurt or Whole Cream (I went with the cream because that is what I had at home).
Stir gently and let it continue to cook for 5 minutes at that same simmer, then add 2 tablespoons of fresh Dill or 1 tablespoon of dried Dill.
You can leave it like that, but I added in some cut-up rotisserie chicken for some added protein.
It was soooooo good! This made a big batch and we have plenty left over, in fact – thinking about it now, that may be lunch today! I will definitely make it again.
So that’s it! Tonight I am going to the Downton Abbey movie with friends… the week will be another full one – between work and wedding tastings I want to pack up the last of my garden for the year, maybe mow the lawn one more time before the mower is put away for the season, and listen to audio while doing so 🙂
Have a great week!
~Sheila
Book Journey 
Just finished All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert and have started How to Lose Your Mother by Molly Jong-Fast. Am knee deep in Estelle Ryan’s 25th Genevieve Leonard: The Whyte Connection and have a few others up on my TBR right now
Sounds like some good reading! I have been looking at the Gilbert book
it isn’t an easy read as my review points out. Some people say they “dread reading it” based solely on some not so great press. She’s not the “Julia Roberts plays Elizabeth Gilbert ” of 20 years ago.
I can only imagine the Charlie Sheen book
LOL I don’t know what I was thinking… a kind reflection? Great stories like when I listened to Rob Lowes book?
A book club with discussion and food? That sounds like fun. Charlie Sheen’s book? I don’t know. It could be interesting. Maybe I should try an audio of that. Hope you have a great week!
Yes! We are a big group and I think the food and extras we do to tie into the book help up to dig in 🙂 I love thinking of ways to enhance our discussions 🙂
Oh, I hope you loved Remarkably Bright Creatures! I listened to it and thought it was excellent.
I am reviewing it this morning 🙂
I have never read The House of Seven Gables, nor have I visited the house in Salem, which is a shame since I live in MA. Your recipe looks yummy. I hope to get into the garden to clean it up a bit now that things are winding down. Thanks for sharing and for visiting my blog.
We went to Salem in October of 2022 because we thought who goes to Salem in October? LOL _ turns out EVERYONE. Crazy how busy it was and the HOSG tour was an unplanned – lets do that! I’m so glad we did – I will have to dig out the pictures.
salem is a little town ( kind of like Sturgis SD) until the “season”- be it Halloween or Motorcycles grows the population for whatever reason.
Give me either place “off season” thankyouvermuch
Mm recipe sounds great. I want to see the Downton movie too must check to see if it is here. Hope you and the book club get heaps of discussion from your The House of Seven Gables. You are packing up the garden as we begin to get ours ready for the growing season.
The movie was good – at first I was wondering what they could possibly do without Grandma 🙂 It actually was a nice progression and left it open in the end in the event they ever want to do it again 🙂
I think I’d be inclined to give Charlie Sheen a pass too. I wonder what treats will be served for The House of Seven Gables? What great timing! That recipe looks really wonderful. Thanks for sharing it (and also for your visit to Marmelade Gypsy!)
I am excited to see what we bring to the table with HOSG. Often we dress up when we read our Classics but unsure of what I can do for this book… but we will see 🙂
Definitely a challenge, but a fun one.