Day 62

Today is day 62 of my book drought. At this point it’s anyone’s guess as to when I’ll break the dry spell.

What I’ve been up to in the last week…

I read a verygood post on whether or not BEA is worth attending. I can relate to this post so much it’s not even funny. For a mood reader who isn’t heavy into reading review books it can create a lot of pressure. I attended BEA in 2013 and 2014 and I absolutely don’t regret going BUT the pressure to read all of the books may be part of the reasoning behind my drought.

I have fallen behind on Walking Dead *GASP*! Technically I’m only 3 days behind but it’s been so long since I’ve missed seeing the show as it airs. It’s a strange feeling.

I’m still experimenting with new recipes. I found and made very simple recipes for Black Bean Soup and Baked Tortilla Chips…both will be made again soon! Yum!

I caved and watched a couple Christmas movies. I know, I know…just last week I refused to watch any until Thanksgiving week *hangs head in shame*. I’ve also discovered that Christmas movies make me both happy and sad. I love the movies but the reason I watch so many of them during the holiday season is because my hubby isn’t home. He works a lot this time of year so the movies sometimes make me feel a little lonely.

I ordered and received Christmas cards with my adorable pooch on them. I tried sending cards without the furrball one year and promptly received multiple complaints lol. So I now order photo cards for those picky family members ;-) and everyone else receives normal cards.

Please excuse my thumb, I had to block out our last name so no one can find us and steal the dog ;-p

Into the Storm is out on DVD! I saw it in the theater and I can definitely recommend it to any disaster movie lovers like myself.

Is it paranoid that I sometimes think our XBOX One is stalking us? Probably but anything is possible.

That’s all I can think of right now. What have you been up to?

Blog Tour: Burdin of Choice by Alexander Nader

Burdin of Choice (Beasts of Burdin #2)

By Alexander Nader

Publisher:  J. Taylor Publishing

Release Date:  November 10, 2014

Keywords:  Urban Fantasy

Blurb:  

Ty Burdin is back. Back to drinking and back to avoiding demons. He is, of course, the leading expert in his field. In both subjects. 

That’s probably why, when a customer offers him way too much money just to locate a missing car and some mysterious cargo, he readily agrees. The dude is human after all—Ty’s prime target client base. 

Along with the money comes a slew of disappearances which Ty tries to ignore while tracking down that car, because, of course, those missing people might be demon related, and as he’s said before, that’s agency business. Not his. Period. 

Until today. 

Ty Burdin is to back drinking as well as everything he vowed never to get involved with again. 

Question is, which one will kill him first? The booze, the demons, or the Agency?

Beasts of Burdin on Amazon  &  Barnes and Noble

Burdin of Choice on goodreads

About the author:

Alex lives in the tourist infested hills of east Tennessee with his amazing wife/muse and three superb children. He would tell you more about how awesome they are, but you probably wouldn’t believe him. When he’s not hanging out with them he’s making pizzas and occasionally he jots a few words down. He’s a big fan of good music, good storytelling, and fun, lots of fun. 

He once wrote a short story about pirates to his wife via text message that blossomed into a full length novel and never stopped after that.

Alex on Goodreads   Twitter   Facebook   Website   Blog

Day 56

Today is Day 56 of my bookish drought.

What I’ve been up to…

TV, TV, and more TV

Thanks to a binge watch last weekend, I am now caught up on Z Nation! It’s no Walking Dead but I am liking it. For those of you who watch it, I thought the Liberty Bell was cool and how the ‘family’ survives was….interesting. I really wish they would have expanded on the tornado scene because hello, I love Sharknado!

I’ve seen a bunch of movies in the last week and a half. The total would be higher but our internet was down for a day so I couldn’t hop on Netflix.

Corpse Bride -Pabkins, that one was just for you :)

Quarantine and Quarantine 2 – The first was a little better but both were decent z movies.
My Babysitter is a Vampire – come on…who doesn’t love teen movies once in a while!
40 Days & Nights / Age of Dinosaurs / High Lane – None of these were great movies but I didn’t regret watching them or anything like that.
Finding Normal – I guess I was in the mood for a romance.
Sharknado…again.

Have you notice that Christmas movies are on?? I love Christmas movies but I don’t think I’m quite ready for that yet. I’ll wait until Thanksgiving week before diving into that pond.

I almost forgot to add these...

I saw on twitter that Sharknado 3 will be hitting D.C.!

Dead Snow 2: Red vs Dead releases on DVD December 9th!! I fully expect it to be awesomely ridiculous!

Cooking

I’ve slowed down just a little with my cooking but I’m still at it. Some recipes I tried and recommend are MexicanChicken, Chicken Roll ups, Garlic Parmesan Chicken. I’ve had the Garlic Parmesan Chicken recipe for a few years and have no clue where I found it so I’ll put the recipe at the end of this post.

Does anyone have any Thanksgiving dessert recommendations? I’m going to two Turkey Day meals (Yay!) and I want to make some desserts to take. I’d like to stay away from the typical pumpkin/apple pie desserts.

Shopping

I really think I have a shopping problem right now, lol. On the plus side, I now have a cool pair of mid-calf combat type boots, a pretty teal purse, a couple of new scarves, a pair of black converse with pink laces on the way, and a few Christmas/Birthday pressies bought. I know, I know, you probably don’t want to hear about Christmas shopping any more than I do but if I see things on sale I figure I might as well scoop them up and save money in the long run.

Artsy Fartsy

I did one drawing a couple weeks ago. She’s not great and she’s well….armless but they all can’t be winners, lol.

Check out Tabitha’s weekly Art It Up feature to see much cooler drawings!

 My armless Corpse Bride...

Garlic Parmesan Chicken Recipe (as mentioned above)

Garlic Parmesan Chicken

Prep 20 minutes
Cook time 35 minutes
4 servings

Ingredients

2 tsp crushed garlic (I used 4 minced cloves)
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c dry bread crumbs
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese
4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Warm garlic and olive oil to blend flavors. In separate dish, combine bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Dip chicken breasts in olive oil and garlic mixture, then into bread crumb mixture. Place in shallow baking dish.
3. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until no longer pink and juices run clear.

Day 47

Today is day 47. It’s been 47 days since I’ve read a book and before this post I hadn’t blogged in two weeks.
 

Why the bookish drought? I wish I knew. I think maybe something is just missing right now. I’m still working on figuring out what that something is but whatever it is it has taken the fun out of reading and blogging. The thought has crossed my mind to just stop blogging/reviewing but I’m not ready to make that decision.

 

What have I been up to during my bookish drought?

 

-          Vacation – Hubby and I spent a few days at a cabin in the New York Finger Lakes region. It wasn’t nearly as relaxing as it should have been so we ended up going home a day early.

 

-          Various Halloween activities. Due to lack of time (or just laziness, whichever) I scrapped my original idea of being zombie Red Riding Hood aka Zed Riding Hood. Instead I dressed up as Waldo…well Wenda if you want to get technical. You can see a pic of me as Wenda on twitter (@LRAtRandom) if you’d like.

 

-          My husband has me hooked on woot.com so I’ve been spending time and money there. I really need to break myself of this one!

 

-          I’ve been compiling an emergency kit for my car. It’s something that has been in the back of my mind for a while and winter is coming so I figured why not now. Better to be safe than sorry, right?

 

-          TV…like usual I watch too much TV. I’m insanely excited to have The Walking Dead back on. I need to catch up on watching Castle and Z Nation. My coworker keeps talking to me about Castle so really I need to catch up on the current season so she stops spoiling it, haha.

 

-          We have a new couch arriving in a couple days! Yay!

 

-          Cooking…I always used to enjoy baking and loathe cooking but that has changed recently. I’ve been expanding my cooking skills a little much to the dismay of mine and my hubby’s waistlines (lol). I’ve been having fun searching for new recipes to try. I also took the time (and am still taking the time) to compile two recipe books. One recipe book is for recipes I want to try and the other is for recipes I’ve tried, liked/loved, and plan to make again.

-          Three recipes I’ve tried (and loved) recently. Tater Tot Bake; Easiest Crock PotChicken Dinner; Ham & Cheese French Toastie Roll Ups

 

Books I’ve purchased…because of course I would still buy books even though I haven’t read :)

-AsYou Wish by Cary Elwes

-TheArt of Eating Through the Zombie Apocalypse because zombies…enough said.

-LittleDead Riding Hood because the first book in the series, Cinderskella, was adorbs.

-I’m pretty sure there’s another paperback I bought recently but I can’t think of it at the moment

-Various kindle freebies or cheapies (probably zombie books)

 

Comics I’ve purchased…because I’m convinced I will start reading comics…one of these days.

-Volumes 2 and 3 of iZombie because zombies.

-Rot & Ruin #2 because Jonathan Maberry rocks and again…zombies.

-Marvel Zombies #1 not that I’ve read any other marvel comics but yeah…zombies

 

A November Release that deserves a little love even if I don’t do an official release post.

Killer Instinct by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. This is the second book in the series. I haven’t read it YET (stupid drought) but I read the first in the series, The Naturals, and trust me it’s awesome!

 

What have you been up to?

Covers At Random – All the feathers!

The Girl at Midnight (Releases April 2015) on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble

 

Melissa Grey’s Website

 

Beneath the streets of New York City live the Avicen, an ancient race of people with feathers for hair and magic running through their veins. Age-old enchantments keep them hidden from humans. All but one. Echo is a runaway pickpocket who survives by selling stolen treasures on the black market, and the Avicen are the only family she’s ever known.

 

Echo is clever and daring, and at times she can be brash, but above all else she’s fiercely loyal. So when a centuries-old war crests on the borders of her home, she decides it’s time to act.

 

Legend has it that there is a way to end the conflict once and for all: find the Firebird, a mythical entity believed to possess power the likes of which the world has never seen. It will be no easy task, but if life as a thief has taught Echo anything, it’s how to hunt down what she wants…and how to take it.

 

But some jobs aren’t as straightforward as they seem. And this one might just set the world on fire.

 

 

 

Magonia (Releases April 2015) on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble

 

Maria Dahvana Headley’s Website

 

Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to breathe, to speak – to live.

So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of her medication. But Aza doesn’t think this is a hallucination. She can hear someone on the ship calling her name.

 

Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Jason, who’s always been there. Jason, for whom she might have more-than-friendly feelings. But before Aza can consider that thrilling idea, something goes terribly wrong. Aza is lost to our world – and found, by another. Magonia. Above the clouds, in a land of trading ships, Aza is not the weak and dying thing she was.

 

In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power – and as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war is coming. Magonia and Earth are on the cusp of a reckoning. And in Aza’s hands lies the fate of the whole of humanity – including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie?

 

 
 

Fire & Flood (Fire & Flood #1) on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble

Salt & Stone (Fire & Flood #2) (cover not final) (Releases February 2015) on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble

 

Victoria Scott’s Website

 

Fire & Flood Summary:

 

Time is slipping away…

 

Tella Holloway is losing it. Her brother is sick, and when a dozen doctors can’t determine what’s wrong, her parents decide to move to Montana for the fresh air. She’s lost her friends, her parents are driving her crazy, and her brother is dying – and she’s helpless to change anything.

 

Until she receives mysterious instructions on how to become a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed. It’s an epic race actoss jungle, desert, ocean, and mountain that could win her the prize she desperately desires: the Cure for her brother’s illness. But all the Contenders are after the Cure for people they love, and there’s no guarantee that Tella (or any of them) will survive the race.

 

The jungle is terrifying, the clock is ticking, and Tella knows she can’t trust the allies she makes. And one big question emerges: Why have so many fallen sick in the first place?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm a big fan of these feather covers! What's even better is that they all sound like great books!

 

Have any feather covers made their way onto your to read list?

 

 

 

 

Friday Foodie Affair: Chicken Cordon Bleu II

 

Chicken Cordon Bleu II

 

Recipe Source: Allrecipes.com

Photo Sources: The first photo is from the above link and the others are mine.

 

Prep: 15 min

Cook: 45 min 

Ingredients:

6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

6 slices swiss cheese
6 slices ham
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon paprika
6 tablespoons butter
½ cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup heavy whipping cream
 

Directions:

 

1. Pound chicken breasts if they are too thick. Place a cheese and ham slice on each breast within 1/2 inch of the edges. Fold the edges of the chicken over the filing, and secure with toothpicks. Mix the flour and paprika in a small bowl, and coat the chicken pieces.

2. Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the chicken until browned on all sides. Add wine and bouillon. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

3. Remove the toothpicks, and transfer the breasts to a warm platter. Blend the cornstarch with the cream in a small bowl, and whisk slowly into the skillet. Cook, stirring until thickened, and pour over the chicken. Serve warm.

 

My Thoughts:

 

One of the first things I noticed, after the mouthwatering photo, was the video instructions. I’ve never seen that before on Allrecipes but having that extra resource was a nice addition.

Between the video and the above written directions I had no problems making a successful Cordon Bleu. Hubby and I both really enjoyed it and it will be another recipe I revisit every so often.

 

I had actually considered making a breaded, baked version but I’m very glad I didn’t because the sauce really made the dish! I’m actually kicking myself for not saving the extra sauce. It would have been so good over…well just about anything. Maybe some saucy broccoli or a baked potato. Next time for sure!

Side note: Is smoked paprika the new ‘it’ spice? I wanted to buy a fresh container of paprika to make this dish but all my local grocery store carries is ‘smoked’. I bought it and then ended up chickening out and using my older, regular paprika anyway. Now that I think about it, it probably wouldn’t have made much difference since it was being cooked in. Right? Does anyone know if there is a huge difference in flavor between the two?

 

Spooktacular Giveaway HOP!

One winner will get to choose ONE ZOMBIE BOOK from BookDepository.com 

(up to $15 value).

Some authors to check out if your stumped on which book you might choose:

Gena Showalter, Mornin' O'Hara, Dana Fredsti, Amanda Ashby

Diana Rowland, Max Brooks, Jesse Petersen, Ben Tripp

Rhiannon Frater, Stephen Jones, Mark Tufo, David Wellington

Jonathan Maberry, Rusty Fischer, Lia Habel, Ann Aguirre

Ilsa J Bick, Harry Shannon, Ian D. Moore

The possibilities are endless!

-Open internationally if Book Depository ships to your country

-Fill out the form to enter

-Entries must be received by October 31st at 11:59pm

-Winner will be chosen via Random.org

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

By Jenny Han

Series: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before #1

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Publisher: Simon & Schuster for Young Readers

Goodreads Summary:

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister’s ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters afterall.

Book Links:

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble

Jenny Han’s Website

My Thoughts:

I would have been beyond mortified if I were Lara Jean. She was mortified but overall I think she handled it so much better than I ever could have at that age. Granted, she may have made a rash decision but it’s still better than whatever my teen self would have done. Heck at any age having very personal letters mailed out would be so insanely embarrassing! Kudos to Lara Jean for taking charge.

Jenny Han makes you grow to love these characters so much so that it was hard to leave them at the end. And what an ending it was! Ack! I wanted needed more…just one more chapter…an epilogue…a novella…SOMETHING!! I’m very glad this will be a duology…April cannot come soon enough!

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5