Random bits

Cornish Pasties for dinner tonight, yum!

County Fair this evening when it cools down a bit. Swimming pool in a bit.

My blanket square is coming along slowly, mainly because I've had my nose in a book more regularly. I found a series of tattoo shop mysteries (because there's a series for EVERYTHING now, lol) and I've been reading them, and a few other odds and ends.

So, books I've recently read:

-The new Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead Reckoning. My reaction to it was just, "Meh." Didn't love it, didn't hate it.

-The new Queen Betsey book, Undead and Undermined. I have to say, I'm not enjoying them as much anymore. Betsey is just annoying and self centered and frankly, there's not much happening with the series, it seems stagnant. Betsey disappears, then has sex with Sinclair. Betsey fights with her sister, has sex with Sinclair.

Donna Andrews's new book, The Real Macaw was as enjoyable as always. The characters are fun and quirky and we finally get to find out what sex the new babies are :)

Cricket McRae's crafting mysteries, with Wined and Died most recently released. Cricket is actually a local author so I found her in a local display at the library. I've enjoyed all 5 books in the series.

And surprisingly, I like the latest Anita Blake book from Laurell K Hamilton, though I'm not sure where we go from here. Maybe back to Anita helping solve crimes? I'd like to see Edward toughen up a bit again too, that was the one thing I didn't care for, Edward just can't go soft lol.

Old favorites that I can't read any more:
Sherrilyn Kenyon, Christine Feehan (funny I used to love this series, but I went back and re-read one and just thought, "What was I thinking??"

My Amazon wish list is looking pretty thin again, since I use it to remind me of books I want to read and now I've read most of them. Time to make a trip the the bookstore to scope out new releases lol.

What is it about summer

that makes me nostalgic for certain foods? Maybe it's because summer is block party and picnic season, so it was the only time we ever had them. But things like carrot cake, Pineapple Upside Down cake and of course my grandma's bars have been at the forefront of my mind for a while now. Carrot cake was easy to solve, I bought a single piece at the grocery store bakery. Yum!

The Pineapple Upside Down cake seemed an easy solution too, as Safeway sells slices. But it wasn't quite what I remembered from my childhood. Maybe because it was white cake, not yellow?

And of course Grandma's bars. I made them. I didn't cook the sugar mixture long enough, and I didn't put enough lemon juice in the frosting, so they were close, but not quite... I will try them again sometime.

Now there's a Pineapple Upside Down cake in my oven, Betty Crocker's recipe, which means it's probably exactly what my mom made when I was a kid, lol.

Now I just need some of my mom's potato salad and the cheese olive puffs ;)

Not sure how Pineapple Upside Down cake is going to go with our dinner of Chicken Korma, but oh well. Tomorrow is pulled pork sandwiches, it will go just fine with that.

Edited to add: The cake turned out perfectly, G loves it, though I haven't been able to get Isabel to try it due to the pineapple. Maybe tomorrow. Picky bugger, lol.

The pork is in the crock pot. Real simple, chop one onion, throw it in. Add pork roast, season with pepper and garlic power. I add a cup of apple juice for moisture and then 3/4 c of bbq sauce. Several hours on low and the pork will be so tender it will easily pull apart. I like to toast my hamburger bun before I put the pork on it. It reheats well, too.

Next up on the list of things we haven't had for awhile and must have soon: Cornish Pasties. Yum!