Strawberries and (Almost) Cream

I'm in the middle of my sweet tooth's least favorite time of year- the weeks when I give up desserts for Lent. I've been trying to find non-dessert substitutes that will satisfy my cravings for sweet, and I have to say, I hit the jackpot with my recent strawberries-and-cream-like creation.

I picked up a carton of strawberries that just happened to be perfectly sweet and delicious. To go with them, I mixed plain Greek yogurt with some honey and cinnamon. It turned out to be an amazingly decadent dip, and got even better once some of the strawberry juice got into the mix.

Now I may not choose to eat this in the face of a cupcake, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I'll look forward to making this even once the dessert ban is lifted.

The House on Fortune Street

One of the characters in The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesy believes that "everyone has a book or a writer who's the key to their life". Isn't that an interesting idea? I know who my writer would be, and so do the four main characters in this book. Each section is told from a different one of their viewpoints and somehow ties in to the books and writers that are the keys to their stories- Alice in Wonderland, Jane Eyre, Charles Dickens, and the poems of Keats.

This book was not what I had expected it to be, and not what the synopsis leads you to believe it will be. It's about the tangled lives of four people, but their lives aren't entangled in the obvious way that you'd expect. There's a strong sense of the key to the story being revealed bit by bit as the novel progresses. There are quite a few instances where the author leads you to unravel the next piece of the puzzle just by dropping a word as a hint, or conjuring up a vague feeling of suspicion about a character. It's a subtle and impressive feat of writing to be able to pull that off, and it made me really, really like this book.

Boy Bloggers and Walmart Wardrobes

My daily web surfing includes stops at quite a few fashion blogs. I always love discovering new ones and two that I recently found out about put their own unique twists on the genre.

The Midwestyle covers clothes, style inspiration, and even a bit of thrifting. It's written by a few recent college grads living in the Midwest...who just happen to be guys. It's an interesting change to pace to see the male perspective on fashion blogging and the writing has just enough snark to make it entertaining to read about things like belts and messenger bags.


Penny Chic features an outfit today designed around a specific theme- Architect Chic, Museum Docent Chic, Secret Agent Chic. The caveat is that every item in the outfit is something from Walmart. Now I'll admit to being a little skeptical about a few of the outfits. In my mind, Walmart clothing is often cut skimpy and made of strange fabric, and some of the items shown seem to fall into that category. But I do really like the idea behind the blog. It may even inspire me to give the clothing department another look the next time I'm at a Walmart.

Two Young Adults

I've come to the conclusion that the reason I still enjoy an occasional foray into the young adult genre is because I didn't actually read too many of them back when I was in their target demographic. Once seventh grade hit, I seemed to jump right into all the classics by Jane Austen and the Brontes. Now that I've read all of those a million times over, I have to go back to see what I was missing back then.

(That, and the fact that I get so many for free from working in publishing!)

Two came my way recently, the first being Delirium by Lauren Oliver. It's set in a dystopian world, similar to the lately successful Hunger Games series (and that old book The Giver by Lois Lowry- did anyone else have to read that in school?).

The second was Abandon by Meg Cabot. She's written lots of adult chick-lit, as well as The Princess Diaries, but this is the first book of hers I've ever read. It's a modern retelling of the myth of Hades and Persephone. I've never liked Greek mythology that much, but thought it was a fresh and interesting scenario here.

Pretty Delicious

A few posts back, when I was singing the praises of quinoa, I alluded to having a new favorite cookbook. That cookbook is Pretty Delicious by Candace Kumai. This was a total impulse purchase for me, as I had never heard of either the book or the author (apparently a former Top Chef contestant). The pretty, Anthropologie-like design made the book jump off the shelf at me. Once I did a quick flip-through and saw the interesting recipes inside, I was sold.

It wasn't until I started reading the book more closely that I realized it's actually a cookbook with a health-conscious spin. It's not about any kind of specific diet, but instead about recipes built around wholesome, nutritious ingredients. For each recipe, the author highlights the key nutritional ingredient used. Besides the two qunioa dishes, so far I've tried making:

Pad Thai

I'd never tried any Asian dishes at home before, but it was easier than expected and tasted just about as good as what I've had out.


Black Bean and Banana Empanadas

Apologies for the uninspiring picture of these. I had forgotten to take one until the leftovers were already packed up in tupperware. These are a new favorite of mine. They're a bit labor intensive, but well worth it. The book has a delicious guacamole recipe that goes well with these, and uses Greek yogurt and soy sauce as secret (and surprising) ingredients.

The book also hase some nice ideas for entertaining, like having a breakfast burrito brunch or setting up a make-your-own spring roll bar, and some easy yet unusual ideas for wraps that I plan to use to spice up my lunch routine.