Tag: Morning Meanderings

Good morning!  COFFEE CUP says good morning too… we have been up….

a while.  🙂

Yesterday I was working on my interview/chat questions for Cheryl Lu-Lein Tan, author of A Tiger In The Kitchen.  I reviewed and adored her book this last weekend and she has agreed to chat with me about her life, her writing, and her book.

Uh yeah….

about the book.

Here is a little background info…. when I finish a book it goes one of two directions.  If it was an ok read but probably not one I would ever refer to or read again, it goes to my giveaway closet, a closet in the book room that has all the books that go into the prize box for my giveaways.  If it is a book I really enjoyed and will be referring to again, it goes on my book shelves.

There was a time I knew where everything on my shelves were.  If a friend came over and said, “Hey (they say that a lot), do you have the book _____________________ by ___________________.  If I did, I could take them right to it.

This is no longer the case.  Somewhere since Saturday I placed my treasured book A Tiger In The Kitchen on the book shelf and when I went to refer to it today…. I was lost in the sea of book titles flashing before my eyes, and I came out empty-handed.

So if there was such a  thing as a book tracker, (work with me here…. this is a bazillion dollar idea) I could go in the reading room and command it “Find Tiger In The Kitchen” and like a Geiger counter it would beep in the direction of the book and seriously, who couldn’t use such a time-saving device?

Ok… in the mean time.. my search continues….

the good news, there will be an author chat with Cheryl Lu-Lein Tan and that is pretty exciting!

I am off – awesome review coming up today (yes – a gush worthy book!) and I am pretty much missing in action until this evening.  Work, work out, dinner and then Chance to Student Group and I have a class every Wednesday evening.  I will land at home about 8:30 pm tonight.

Good morning!

*Yawn … stretch*

Yeah… is seems early as I type this at 6:20 a.m. and it is really dark out yet, but the hustle of my day will start in about 30 minutes as I get read y for work.

Over the weekend we were having a great conversation here about the BIG BOOKS, and then as if on some sort of cosmic cue this arrives in my mailbox on Monday:

 

yes…. I think this came in from Shelf Awareness and I don’t recall it looking this ummm…. errrr…. HUGE on-line.  I think I was thinking, this is somewhat of a classic and I have never read it….  and now here it is.  Bigger than ever.

 

 

On time management I took part of Sunday to prepare this weeks meals ahead of time.  Since Chance came to stay with us I feel like I am flying by the seat of my pants when it comes to dinner.  I work weekdays, then I hit the gym with a friend from 3:30 – 4:30 or 5… THEN I come home and many times have a small window before I have a meeting or a class, or Chance has something going on so we need to be out of the house by 6 or 6:30.   It has got to the point that we are eating pizza , subs, and chicken at least once a week – takeout -yes TAKEOUT!  Not good for any of us….

SO… thanks to the Make Ahead Meals cookbook I reviewed last year as well as a few recipes I picked off the          weekend Cooking from Beth Fish Reads, on Sunday within a three-hour window I made:

This is the base for Taco Pie.  This part you can freeze and when ready to eat, thaw and then add in a corn muffin mix with milk and butter and eggs that goes over the top.  TASTY!  We had this last night.

 

Shredded beef for sandwiches – so yummy!  This is already packaged for the freezer, pull out the day you plan to serve it, thaw and heat up for a quick meal with raw vegies on the side.

 

Shephards Pie… ready and froze – a great meal that the guts like because it contains both meat and potatoes.

 

Not pictured:

BBQ Bacon Pepper Jack chicken

Tuna Fettuchini * not prepped yet

Hamburgers and sweat potato fries *not prepped yet

Manicotti

Lasagna

 

And on a final note for this morning – LINKY was a bear yesterday for the Monday What Are You reading meme.  The site was going through an upgrade and unfortunately it hit on the day that I use it the most and caused the list of participants to not be able to be accessed for most of the day.  I believe it is working now and if you still need to add your post please do so – I have hardly had time myself to visit so that will happen over the next few days.

Final final note… I have to get back into my training – Birthday week did a number on my eating habits…… back to the gym and back to setting my goals…. spring will be here before we know it!  😀

 

Good Morning!

I am in a fantabulous mood (yes it’s a word… maybe my word – but a word! :D)

Yesterday was a fun road trip with Chance. We went to Hennen’s which was really the reason for the hour trip to St Cloud because we were looking for a new mattress set that we could not find what we liked locally.  I do love Hennen’s.  It is a large furniture store with good prices and sales and they deliver for free which unfortunately is a better deal than they offer in my own home town.

After spending about an hour in the store I found what I believe to be a great deal and the set will be delivered to my home next Wednesday.  Mission accomplished.

Next stop – Barnes and Noble… fondly know by my friends and family as my Mother Ship.  Ahhhhh…… I can just smell that new book scent!  I did not really have a mission when I went in other than to see what I could find but of course I could not leave empty-handed AND I did have a gift card from my friend Cindy from Christmas.  So….

The Hate List was one I have heard a lot about and the synopsis left me going “whoa” which in book language is “this sounds good.”.  Olive Kitteridge is a book that part of my book club is reading for a bonus read this month.  We have been asked as a group to review a couple of books and plan food around the reviews for a possible opportunity to have our group mentioned in a book coming out.  I know – SSQQUUUUEEE right?   In order to do this we had to plan a couple additional reviews, and for this month – Olive Kitteridge is the one we will review in two weeks.

Then Chance and I popped into Mongo’s in St Cloud which is a treat every time we are in the area.  The food is Mongolian stir fry and if you have never experienced this sort of grill I highly recommend it.  They go by many names around the country, I think the one in Fargo is called Hu Hot.  You get a bowl when you come in and you go around and fill your bowl with the veggies of choice, (there is everything you could imagine – peppers, cauliflower, spinach, yellow squash, broccoli, onion, pea pods, green beans, potato, peas…) and then you chose your meats (chicken, crab, shrimp, beef, salmon, sausage…) then there are three choices of noodles and then you choose 6 scoops of a sauce which you can select from about twenty different types from sweet and mild to hot and spicy and everything in between.  Then you give your bowl to the cooks and they stir fry it in front of you.  They will ask you if you would like to add an egg of rice or a wrap – all included.  It is delicious and fun!  And to give you a bit of what it was like I totally geeked out and recorded a bit of the experience:

Today I have a pretty open day and I am really looking forward to it.  After church Chance is hanging with friends all day and I am coming home to read a bit, prep meals for the week, and do a bit of house cleaning and then hopefully – read a bit more.   After a week of birthday celebration and eating out way too much and eating way too much…. I need to get back on track.

Hope your Sunday is wonderful!

Good morning. 😛

*mischievous grin*

What?

You think I am up to something?

Ok its morning.. and I do not have the capacity this early to carry on a long con (sorry – LOST joke and thumbs up to Sawyer).

Over the past couple weeks I have ran across a couple of videos that have cracked me up.  One is Harry Potter related.  The other is book related.  I tried to ignore them….but…. ya know….

I am not real good at that either.

SO – hopefully you find at least one of these as entertaining as I did:

Literal Harry Potter.  Had to chuckle.

and then…

This one… his eye brows crack me up.

 

Today I am striking against activity.  LOL – ok, just until 1:00 when I have lunch with a friend and then at 4:00 when I go to Group Power…. but other than that…. I am banning activity for the day other than good books and a little down time.  This past week exhausted me… last night I had dinner with my friends who I used to work with and that was a lot of fun catching up.  By the time I got home at 7:30 pm I was so tired I went to bed at 8 pm.

Mmmmm hmmmm… there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.  I have people over dosed and just need a little recoup time.

Any hoo – off to read!  Have an awesome rest of your day!

Good Morning!

I am so tired right now.

Yesterday turned out to be much more than I had planned….. in a good way… but wow.  I am exhausted.

I worked and at work my wonderful co workers left this for me on my desk:

This beautiful calla lily is now sitting at my desk.  I wish I would have taken a better picture – it really is gorgeous.

Then my wonderful coworker Dawn took me out to lunch at China Buffet (I did mention I was turning off the good eating habits for a day for my birthday….)  😀

After work I worked out and then went home and SURPRISE- my hubby had changed his evening plans so we could go shopping and go out to dinner.  He thought I would want Chinese (I LOVE Chinese) but I had to confess to him that ship had sailed as of my noon lunch plans.  Instead we went to Poncho and lefty’s a wonderful Mexican restaurant and we split a full size order of chicken nachos.  (Again – remember I took the day off from eating healthy) 😛

At 8 pm I left to meet up with friends and had a blast.  They had made me a cake (ok – seriously – I took the day off from eating healthy!  LOL) and we shared in a lot of laughs.  Paula picked me up an amazing book – thank you Paula 🙂

Left: Amy, Paula, Deb, Dawn, Laura, and me

 

And then finally….

I had to (HAD TO!) treat myself to a couple of books…..

The Beth Moore book is a 90 day study on Paul.  I seen this at Barnes and Noble when I was there last month and I wanted soooooo badly to purchase it but decided I could wait for my birthday.  SO – it arrived yesterday – on my birthday!  I love books like this and there is space inside to write which I also enjoy.

A Tiger In The Kitchen:

After growing up in the most food-obsessed city in the world, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan left home and family at eighteen for America–proof of the rebelliousness of daughters born in the Year of the Tiger. But as a thirtysomething fashion writer in New York, she felt the Singaporean dishes that defined her childhood beginning to call her back. Was it too late to learn the secrets of her grandmothers’ and aunties’ kitchens, as well as the tumultuous family history that had kept them hidden before? In her quest to recreate the dishes of her native Singapore by cooking with her family, Tan learned not only cherished recipes but long-buried stories of past generations.

A Tiger in the Kitchen, which includes ten authentic recipes for Singaporean classics such as pineapple tarts and Teochew braised duck, is the charming, beautifully written story of a Chinese-Singaporean ex-pat who learns to infuse her New York lifestyle with the rich lessons of the Singaporean kitchen, ultimately reconnecting with her family and herself.

I know right?  I can not wait to read this book!

And finally (yes I know – babbling on…) I have to a sweet mention to two bloggers who not only made me smile a little bigger the last few days but were also two of my roommates last year at BEA.  A big thank you to Care from Care’s on-line book club who sent me a birthday card a couple of days ago.  How super sweet is she?  AND hugs to my wonderful friend Reagan of Miss Remmer’s Reviews who called me and sang her own version of Happy Birthday yesterday evening.  Seriously – this is two great examples of why I love this community of book bloggers.

Ok… I have an early morning meeting, work until 3, Zumba class at 3:30 and dinner with my Wal-Mart friends at 4:30.  Yes another crazy day of good things.

Friday I fully intend to pass out.  😀

LOL

I am having a pretty good week.  After the Monday What Are You reading Celebration, a fantastic book club meeting last night (review and discussion up later today), and now today…. is my birthday.

I am in a fine festive mood and feel we need a little theme music here before I can move on so hang on while I put some music on…

hang on…

be right back…

*looking through stacks of music*

Ok… sweet!  Here we go:

(Open up another browser to listen to this song while you read)

(right click on above text and click where it says open new window)

Oh come on it is 80’s!  Whats not to love?  😛

Anyway while I dance around my kitchen table with my coffee cup let me share a happening and a tip….

Last night at book club I apparently dropped my cell phone in the snow.  By the time I left 2 1/2 hours later (yeah… we were chatty last night) I found it iced over by my vehicle…. it was functioning but slowly.

Thanks to my son doing the same thing a year ago _ I knew what to do.

I brought it home and put it in a Ziploc of rice.  Apparently the rice will draw any moisture out of the phone.  The verdict?  It is working fine today.

SO – birthday agenda?  Nothing great really.  I work until 3, then hitting the gym…. home for dinner and then 6:30 I take Chance to Youth Group and myself to class.  AT 8 pm I plan to run Chance home and then at 8:15 meet up with a few girlfriends for appetizers for a small but “Woo Hoo its your birthday” gathering.  The eating healthy is on hold until the Birthday is over.  😀

Good morning!

Fingers are flying across the keyboard this morning…. must be the coffee.

Today is a day that many people wait all year for.  The super bowl.  You here the excitement build up in those last games of the season… some teams drop off the chart, others hang in there and finally (FINALLY) it is down to two teams… and if your team is not one of them… you usually go into this BIG GAME tonight still rooting for one over the other.

My friend Wendy (Hi Wendy!) is a HUGE Packer fan.  Even though she lives here in Minnesota, she is originally from Wisconsin and she is Packer all the way.  I can imagine that she probably does have the face paint, jersey, and the foam finger…. even if she will not admit it.  😉

I however – have never been interested in football.  Yet every year we will go over to friends over large quantities of appetizers and watch the big screen.  I go… to hang out with the girls and catch up…. and for the commercials.  My super bowl goes like this:

*The game is on the TV*

Girls:  Talk, talk, talk, giggle, talk, talk, NO WAY!, laugh, talk talk

*Commercials come on*

Me:  “Quiet everyone – it’s the commercials!”

Yup.  It’s true.  I do like a well written commercial and that is the highlight of the game for me.  (Please do not hit me with your foam finger.)  😀

What is not to love?

DO you watch the game?  Any game plans?