Weekly Delights: Week of April 8, 2024

April 14, 2024 by akc

Monday, April 8

We didn’t manage to get any eclipse glasses, but my hubby made a pinhole projector out of a grape nuts box. We sat on the porch taking turns with it. Not as cool as the 2017 eclipse but it was neat! And it was a beautiful spring day to be outside.

Tuesday, April 9

I’m attending a conference this week. Unfortunately it’s in Las Vegas. Fortunately, my platonic life partner is here! She stopped by my room (conveniently, we’re on the same floor) a little while after I arrived to drop off a birthday gift: a signed copy of Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett.

Wednesday, April 10

Spotted a dog in a Hawaiian shirt. I have no idea why it was in a casino, though.

Thursday, April 11

Split some incredible veggie fried rice with my bestie. The texture was perfect, with rice that was mostly chewy, but with lots of crispy bits throughout.

Saw the fountains all lit up at the Bellagio. It was beautiful but also kind of sounded like muted fireworks, which I was not expecting.

Friday, April 12

Leaving Las Vegas!

My hubby ordered us pho for dinner and it arrived not long after I got home. after a long day of weird meals it really hit the spot.

Saturday, April 13

Book club day! One of my friends has a Kanzan cherry tree in her front yard and brought some cuttings. This is my favorite cherry tree, it’s so fluffy! I put most of them in with the remains of my anniversary bouquet and the rest went on the wall.

Sunday, April 14

My hubby made us breakfast sandwiches with eggs, gouda, and turkey bacon, on some really nice seeded rolls he’d gotten for dinner the night before. And he put together the rack for my dumbbells today while doing some cleaning and organizing in the basement.

A small glass vase mounted on a while wall holds a profusion of fluffy pink blooms with some green leaves.

Reading the 2024 Hugo Nominees for Best Novel

April 11, 2024April 7, 2024 by akc

There are a lot of book awards out there, and every so often I find myself thinking about reading through an entire shortlist (or even a long list) before the award. But I’ve never actually done it because my TBR list is long enough.

However, when this year’s list of finalists for the Hugo award for best novel came out, I realized that not only I was already halfway there, but one of the three I hadn’t read was already on my TBR list. At that point, it’s just two more books, in a genre I generally enjoy. So, I figured I might as well read them all.

Here’s the first installment with an update on my progress. These are presented in the order of my current personal rankings.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Read in August 2023; 4 stars. This was such a fun concept and a really enjoyable story overall. I loved Amina as a character, she felt very relatable. And I enjoyed the relationships between her and her crew; you really got a sense of how well they knew one another.

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Read in February 2024; 5 stars. This was hilarious. I have no idea if all the machinations of the plot actually make sense, but IMO that’s not really the point with a book like this. The characters were great, and I appreciated the way it ended. Someone please option this for a movie! And actually make it!

Witch King by Martha Wells

Did not finish in September 2023. I’ve enjoyed so much of Wells’ other work, I was ready to like this but found it to be pretty slow. There was a lot of worldbuilding, which is great, but for me it felt a little info-dumpy. There’s also some political situation that I think was going to become important, but I have zero interest in that kind of plotline. I don’t have any notes on how far I got into this, but I think it was close to halfway.

Still to be read:

The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera

I’ve got the print on hold at DCPL because the ebook waiting list is too long. It’s hard to tell if it’ll become available in time, but for now I’ll see how it goes.

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

I have the ebook on hold at DCPL, and it should become available for me sometime next month.

Translation State by Ann Leckie

This was the one that was already on my TBR. I’ve also put the ebook on hold, and it should come up in late June.

Weekly Delights: Week of April 1, 2024

April 7, 2024 by akc

This is a new weekly series, shamelessly ripped off from Ellen’s Weekly Delights and Danielle’s Last Week Delight.

Monday, April 1

Saw a couple of good April Fool’s jokes, including SpringShare’s LibBNB and this one from the National Park Service. I really appreciated SpringShare’s commitment to the bit (they even link to past April Fool’s jokes) and how the NPS came up with something they could turn into a history lesson.

Tuesday, April 2

Caught a livestream yoga class from Yoga Heights for the first time in about a month. I’ve started strength training and the schedule for that has conflicted with the Tuesday livestream class, and due to work obligations I haven’t been able to get to the other days that I usually attend. It felt really good to get back to it, especially in a class led by one of my favorite instructors.

Wednesday, April 3

Caught another livestream yoga class. I didn’t realize it but there was a sub, and it was another of my favorite teachers.

Thursday, April 4

The sun came back after a very rainy and overcast few days. I wouldn’t have said I was having a down week but WOW did my mood improve!

We went to dinner at Moreland’s Tavern, a local favorite that we hadn’t been to in a while, and I got to enjoy a side of fresh, crispy tater tots. There’s nothing like a crispy restaurant tot.

Friday, April 5

We ate dinner at home, but afterward walked up to a local spot where we ordered beers and desserts. Our server was delighted by this. When we left, she called after us: “See you next time, party people!”

Naturally, because we’re Team Starts the Party, we were home by 8pm.

Saturday, April 6

We went out to dinner at Annabelle to celebrate our anniversary. The meal and ambiance were wonderful. I really love a place that’s so elegant, and has such a high caliber of food and service, but still manages to keep the experience comfortable and relaxed. We discovered a new kind of wine we like (white burgundy) and I had an amazing dish involving scallops.

Plus, I got a pretty bouquet from my hubby.

Sunday, April 7

Enjoyed some fresh, homemade sourdough with our eggs this morning.

We went to the garden center, where I picked up a bunch of annuals for our various hanging baskets and stocked up on fertilizer.

A top-down shot of a bouquet of yellow and white flowers, with some blue and blush pink accents.

What I read on my February vacation

February 11, 2024 by akc

Once again, we went to a place that looks like this, and for some reason we came back.

Two palm trees are flanked by two large beach umbrellas made of natural palm leaves (or something like that). There are several beige beach loungers in view. The ocean beyond is a faded teal and teh sky is a beautiful blue with wispy clouds. — View from the back row of the beach chairs (El Carmen, Dominican Republic).

A view of the sand, the waves, and the sky is framed by fronds froma. beach umbrella. — View from the back row of the beach chairs (El Carmen, Dominican Republic).

This year we took a shorter trip, but spent more time on the beach reading. I read 8 books, plus about a quarter of one that I decided not to finish.

The Mountain in the Sea, Ray Nayler: This ratio of plot to monologues about concept being explored in the story was off for me, but this was still enjoyable.

Keeper of Enchanted Rooms, Charlie N. Holmberg: An absolutely delightful read involving a haunted house and a housekeeper who can deal with such things.

Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal: What if one of the womanly arts that women learned in the Regency period was how to use magic to make their house look nicer?

A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas: I’ve seen a lot of buzz about this author lately, which got me curious. When a friend said it would be a great beach read I decided to give it a try. For me it didn’t live up to the hype.

Come Closer, Sara Gran: A wonderfully dark novella.

Smoke, Dan Vyleta: There is a great story in this novel, but it’s drowning in all the ruminating and philosophizing.

A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons, Kate Khavari: A plucky botanist in the ’20s decides to investigate a poisoning in the botany department because the cops have pinned it on her mentor, who’s basically been the only person to actually support her studies.

Your Driver Is Waiting, Priya Guns: Or, “unhinged rideshare” as we’re calling this in bookclub. This was very fun and kind of wild. The ending let me down but don’t let that dissuade you.

Silver Nitrate, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (unfinished): One too many conversations that were just a lot of exposition about stuff that may or may not have been related to whatever was trying to happen in the plot.

Turkey Orzo Soup with Kale and Chickpeas

January 14, 2024January 13, 2024 by akc

The first year I hosted Thanksgiving, I made broth with the turkey bones, so I could make turkey soup over the winter. I chose the Turkey Orzo Soup with Kale and Chickpeas (paywalled) because it was referenced in the method I followed for the stock. It is delicious and I look forward to it every year. The last couple of years I’ve served it with the Ligurian Focaccia, fresh out of the oven, and it makes for an extremely cozy meal.

This comes together in a flash because so much of the prep is done ahead of time, at least if your past self prepped and froze the stock and turkey meat. What I like about this soup is that you get a lovely, savory turkey flavor, and with each bite you can get a nice mix of chickpeas, orzo, turkey, and/or kale. It’s hearty but also light.

The only change I make to it is to add more kale, typically double. I find that the size of a bundle of kale can vary a lot, but for the grocery store tuscan kale I had this year, I weighed it out and was a little more than half the bundle. Oh, and I put in more spices than called for, probably closer to a teaspoon of each.

There are two things that make this special. One is the homemade stock, and the other is that it’s turkey soup, which I only make once a year. So if this post made you sad that you don’t have turkey stock in your freezer, I think this would be a great soup if you made it with homemade chicken stock.