NYT on Paris

Places to go, including a tour company with a chocolate tour

Book Report

I've managed to get back to the library more regularly for my mystery fix, plus I've been reading blogs about romances (!!!!) and kid books. The latest:

A trace of smoke / Rebecca Cantrell

A great portrayal of the tension in Germany as the Nazis begin their rise and the defiance of the gay sub-culture of the time. The characters had me rolling my eyes occasionally - a romance seems created after the author realized she'd need a devoted lover to pull off some stunts late in the story, and went back and wrote it in. Read her inspirations (Phillip Kerr) for better noir and read Rebecca Pawel for better historical / political / detection.

Hardball / Sara Paretsky

Just....can't....care. I was about 40 torturous pages in when a load of books was due back to the library and I heaved it in. What was it about? Haven't a clue - stupid people doing stupid things? Kinda like her other books.

(just read the Amazon stuff - I guess it's about fine uplifting racial justice kinds of things - but you still can't make me read it)

U is for Undertow / Sue Grafton

Eh, at least there aren't very many letters left....I think I liked this installment (slightly) better because CHRIST , I know all I need to know about Kinsey's packable black dress, her running, the bread her neighbor bakes and all that shit, and U was blessedly mostly about the actual story. This was (another?) chapter 1: present time, chapter 2: the past story. You get to the end and say, bad guy been got, I can forget I ever read this book. I havent' bothered with the library waitlist for this series since, like, F. But I'll put it in the basket if there's nothing else available and while I don't hate it with the fury I have for Paretsky, mostly wonder whether they were the best use of my time...

Better books next time - the good mysteries, kid stuff, and my first contemporary romance that didn't come from my mother-in-law's shelves.

Robots for the boy

Well, he has car sheets, train sheets, how about some robot sheets?

And yes everything else at this store is wonderful....

Perfume

Everything I like recently is from Martin Margiela, so I'll keep an eye on the sample perfume shops for this

Dig that dirt, lift them stones

I am one of those weirdos who actually LIKES the maintenance day at the co-op preschool, so a crop mob appeals to me.

Making your own soap molds

A tutorial on making molds to make soaps - legos in this case, but hmmmm what else would this work on?

City Mama's Meal Planning Monday

I really like her Monday posts - she's local but shops at a different farmer's market from me (I think) so we are often on a similiar wavelength with seasonal foods.

Here's my comment on this week's post:

New Years resolution was to try at least one new recipe a week, and have at least two vegetarian dinners a week. So far, so good (except for the chix stock in the pasta monday - gah)

Monday: (also our clean-the-fridge night, so most ingredients are leftover from last weeks farmer's market) mixed greens with beets, blue cheese, walnuts & walnut vinaigrette. Cooked down leeks in butter, then added diced cremini, white wine once they were soft. It was pretty great straight from the pan like that, but I added chicken stock and a little more butter to turn it into a pasta sauce for fusilli. More kid-friendly, but I'd eat it on toast w/o the additions next time..

Tuesday: Flank-steak-ish cut o'beef from farmer's market, salsa verde, caesar salad (leftover bread -> croutons, leftover baby bibb stands in for romaine), do something with jerusalem artichokes

Wednesday: Co-op meeting, so maybe veggie fried rice

Thursday: Pasta with broccoli rabe, take the breasts off a chicken, breaded and pan-fried.

Friday: Cook the thighs from the chicken, make more stock, then make chicken soup, add escarole, maybe pasta. Dig around the fridge if kids complain about soup....this is why Trader Joe's sells food in a bag

Saturday: Out-of-town friends with kids so probably restaurant

Sunday: Fish from the farmer's market, rice & furikake, grated daikon & lemon (yea! the 8-yr old is becoming a convert) Veg of choice lately has been pea shoots or spinach from market, sauteed with maybe a little garlic

And everyone beat me to the ricotta gnocchi suggestion - YUM!!!

Bluelight Cinemas in Cupertino

A new/old movie theater opened nearby. $3.75 tickets!! Family movies, and hopefully, a family friendly environment....sounds good.