Book Review: Bark If You Love Me

I’ve recently realized I love reading memoirs.  I find other people’s stories so interesting and fascinating.  We all have a story to tell, it’s just find it sometimes that takes a while.

So having a dog, I immediately was able to relate to Louise Bernikow’s Bark If You Love Me.  Of course, Bailey doesn’t bark to show her affection.  She’s more of a licker.  And a good one at that.

Anyways, Louise is a 30 something singleton in NYC when she adopts a boxer during a run at her local park through no explanation at all.  The trials and tribulations she goes through the first year as a pet owner ring far too true.  The book is a short read that’s really fun.  So overall, a great book when you just want something easy.  Of course, as a dog person, and yes once you become a dog owner you immediately become a dog person even if you never thought you would ever be one, I could totally understand just about everything Louise went through with Libro, the dog.  Because at the end of the day, the more boys I meet, the more I love Bailey.

Book Review: The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud

A few weeks ago I finished reading Ben Sherwood’s novel, The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud.  They shorted the title for the movie.  So I got this book, of course, at Goodwill.  It was the paperback size with the movie cover but the coolest part was that when I opened it, the title page was actually signed by Ben Sherwood.  Who knows if it’s worth anything since I ruined the cover and a lot of the bags with fettucine alfredo sauce that spilled one day in my purse when I had the book.  Yes, I know strange and gross at the same time.

Well, the story, of course, revolves around Charlie St. Cloud.  It starts with him as a teenager and then flashes forward ten years to when he’s an adult.  At least, I think it’s ten years.  Any who, Charlie is now the groundskeeper at Marblehead cemetery where his brother Sam is buried.  Sam died when he was 12 in a car accident where Charlie was driving the car he had “borrowed” from their elderly neighbor.  Ever since Sam’s death, Charlie can see Sam’s spirit in the cemetery where they play catch in a special field Charlie created in the woods nearby.  Sam is only visible as dusk and since his death, Charlie has not missed a game of catch.  One day, Charlie meets Tess Carroll, a local sailor walking through the cemetery. They talk and Charlie invites her to have dinner with him that evening.  The only problem is that Sam can see Tess too and with Sam being dead, well.  You get the picture.  There is a happy ending though.

Anyways, I don’t want to spoil the ending too much but over all, I liked the book.  I didn’t expect the twist even though looking back it was pretty evident.

And since Borders is closing its doors forever, I’ve increased my “To Read” list what feels exponentially in addition to all the reading and studying I’ve been doing for the GRE.  Fun!!

Exploring…

So the other day I went to go see Lindsey’s band Over The Line play at Auld Shebeen’s in Fairfax. First off, the concert was awesome, like always. I’ve been to every show that they’ve had in the last two months. I feel like a major groupie/roadie. Yes folks, I’m that cool, I’m with the band.

Second, the bar was great. Typical Irish bar. Food looked good. (We ate before the gig.) And they have an Irish band play upstairs in the dinning room too.

But that’s not what this post is about…

Next door to Auld Shebeen’s is an ice cream shop called Woody’s. We had some time to kill before and I wanted something sweet so we went. And Oh-Emme-Gee it was so good. This super thick, very creamy, yummy yummy delicious goodness that feels like heaven on your tongue.

According to the t-shirt that Woody was wearing it is “Voted Best Ice Cream In The World By The Kids In Fairfax County”. Now, isn’t that the cutest thing in the world? I thought so.

Anyways, if you are ever in Old Town Fairfax by George Mason or Auld Shebeen, be sure you hit up Woody’s.

Book Review: The Glass Castle

This past weekend I read Jeannette Walls wonderful memoir The Glass Castle.  I pretty much stayed in bed Saturday and Sunday reading this amazing book.  I just couldn’t put it down!!

The memoir goes through the childhood, teenage, and early adult years of Jeannette Walls.  With a free-spirit artist mother, Rose Mary, and a big-thinking alcoholic father, Rex, the Walls family traveled for much of her early childhood.  Jeannette, along with her older sister Lori, younger brother Brian, and little sister Maureen endure neglect, hunger, and abuse on a regular basis to the point where they believed they have a normal childhood and are the lucky ones.  They would “scaddadle” every few months from a different town out in the California or Nevada deserts after money got tight and Rex Walls lost his job.  The parents would spin it each time as an adventure that the children more than happily partook in.  Eventually the settled in Phoenix, in the home that her mother inherited from her mother, for some time but the stability was only temporary. 

Once again Rex loses his job in Phoenix, the family moves to Welch, West Virgina, where Rex is from.  In Welch, times are even harder.  During her teenage years, Jeannette works hard in school but lived on the “other side of the tracks.”  The little house her family finally finds to live in has no running water, no indoor plumbing, and seems to be falling apart.   Eventually her life changes when two film makers from New York visit her school.  She decides that the only way out of the life she’s been brought up in, is to move to New York. 

Lori first moves to New York after she graduates high school and Jeannette follows her after her junior year.  In New York, they find an apartment, jobs, and live the city life but in their absence life for Brian and Maureen become even more unbearable so they too move to the city.  Once all the children are together, Rex and Rose Mary soon arrive as well to a surprise to everyone else to “be a family”.  Even though the parents stay with their children, they return to a life of poverty on the streets as homeless people. 

The hardships and struggles the Wall children endure during their life due their parents are astonishing.  Through it all, the children stood by each other and by their parents.  One of the things Jeannette was able to do was accept her parents for who they were.  They might not be the “best” parents in the world but at the end of day, they do love their children very much.  I’m not saying love is all you need (Life really isn’t like The Beatles song.) but it does help.  The language and voice Jeannette uses for the memoir is real, true, and sincere.  You become so involved you forget it’s a memoir and think it’s a novel.  You forget this is the first hand account of one individual.

The most important thing I took from this is that everyone has a story to tell.  You will never know what a person has been through, their personal trials.  But the story that each of us has, makes us who we are.  If isn’t always how you expect it or how you want it to be but all you can do is take it one step at a time because it can always be worse.

A Delicious Tasting

This past week, I got to go to a food tasting for an annual gala held in September.  My COS, chief of staff, was unable to go, mainly because it takes about 2 hours of your day, so he nominated me from our office because of my LOVE for food, especially desserts.  I, of course, was very appreciative of this and accepted to attend.

So I get to the Convention Center to meet up with the other people from the organization at noon.  They take us through everything.  The tables, the center pieces, the linen.  I feel a bit of an outcast.  Mainly because I’m the only one from a participating Member’s office but I’m familiar with the event and know that it means a lot to a lot of different people.

Finally we get to the tasting room which is set up beautifully with different center pieces and the ways the tables can be the day of the event.  I was more concerned with the food.

This is all the possible dishes as they would be served.  I would have been okay eating each and every one of them.  I’m like a cow, I have four stomachs.  At least I like to think so.  I, of course, was interested in the desserts.

I would have had them all right then and there if could have.  Yes, there are SEVEN different options.

First, the salads came out…

Upper left was some sort of red snapper.  The fish was a bit rubbery because it was out for a bit so we nixed that option since salads would already be plated once guest arrive.  Upper right is a red and yellow beet salad.  This was honestly my first time eating beets. Is it just me or do they kind of taste like corn?  Not my favorite.  Lower right was a duck and bean salad with a mango salsa on top.  Mango salsa, amazing.  White beans, amazing.  Duck, tasted Chinese.  That’s the best way I could explain it.  Tasty but for a Latino oriented event, may not be the best. My favorite was the lower left, “Love from Peru.”  It has a marinade shrimp with a great “potato salad” made the way it’s made in Peru.  I loved it!!

Next came the main course.

Excuse me for starting to devour my food before I took a picture of everything.  There was, from upper left, filet mignon, rib eye, crab stuffed chicken, and halibut in a wonderful cream sauce and capers.  The chipotle mashed potatoes with cijotle cheese served with the chicken was melt-in-my-mouth amazing!!  I could have had a bowl of just that and been perfectly satisfied.  And the filet mignon, wow.  No words.  Very tasty but I was so ready for….

DESSERTS AND LOTS OF THEM!!  There was chocolate, mocha, cake, pie (not pictured), and others.  (I’m drooling in my mouth just looking at this picture.)  Everything was so delicious.  Of course, some were better than others.  The mocha cake, lower left, had a very strange texture and the banana cake, upper left, well, tasted like bananas so that was a no go for me.  But I loved everything else.

Of course, my wonderful lunch had to come to an end and I had to hop in a cab to get back to work.  Needless to say, I had the best lunch EVER!! (Sure beat the left-overs I was going to have that day.)  And my job rocks.

It May Be Raining Cookies

Today has been a crazy office day.  With the talks about the debt ceiling and budget cuts, the mood/atmosphere in the House is pure mayhem.  It may not be Monday but it sure feels pretty manic.  (And I’m sure this is what it’ll be like for the next few weeks.)

Any ways, cookies and sweets are always greatly appreciated and greatly needed in my office, especially by me.  Sugar is what makes the office go round.  This is how the raining cookies began:

Went to staff my boss at an award presentation where cookies and brownies were served. (I got a brownie.)

Intern comes back from a briefing with diet coke and a cookie.  (MAJOR SCORE!!)

Girl Scout group takes a meeting in the office and gives me a box of Thin Mints.

Needless to say I’m on a HUGE sugar rush and give the fact that my lunch consisted of chili cheese fries, I definitely need a work out tonight.  We shall see if that really does happen…

Book Review: The Five People You Meet in Heaven

So lately, I’ve had a lot of free time on my hands.  And I’ve had a lot of reading from that free time. Any who, in my collection of “Books to Read” was this little gem by Mitch Albom.  Now, I haven’t read any of his other works even though I’ve wanted to, especially Tuesdays with Morrie.  (I don’t have it in my collection of “Books to Read” but it is on my list.)

The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a philosophical fiction novel centered around Eddie, his birthdays, his death, and the people he meets.  There are some he knows and some he doesn’t but they all impacted his life, in a positive and negative way.  All the people also teach Eddie a lesson about life.  About patience, about love, and about hope.

It’s an easy read but by the end of the book, the reader is left to wonder, “Who will my five people be?”  Truth be told, I was crying in about half the book because I found it so personal and real.  Sadly enough, I wonder about my own dad who were his five people and if he would be one of mine.

Anyways, I highly recommend it.  It definitely makes you reassess your previous, present, and future interactions, acquaintances, and relationships.

Book Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

 So I have a horrible habit of buying books when they are on sale or at used book stores that I want to read but never actually get to.  All the books on my bookshelf at home are books that I have yet to read.  Once I read them, I give them to friend or donate them. 

Anyways, I bought The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson a few months ago.  Because I was reading a few other books, I hadn’t picked it up yet.  But when I went on vacation I took this one along with me for several reasons; (1) it’s a bit of a longer book so I knew it would take me a while to get through, (2) it’s a paperback, and (3) I would actually like to finally read a book before a movie about it comes out. 

I cracked it open at the airport and I was hooked!!  The story is beautifully written about Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative financial journalist just coming off a libel conviction, who get wrapped up in the Vanger’s family murder mystery.  His assistant is Lisbeth Salander, an extremely intelligent but very anti-social in many respects, 24 year-old.  The novel is told chronologically through the course of one year.  Mikael’s and Lisbeth’s lives are told separately at the beginning but intertwine while working on the Vanger case.   There are many twists and turns throughout the book but one of the core themes is violence against women and sexual crimes.  It can be seen through Lisbeth and other females in the Vanger family.  I can’t honestly say justice was served in the end but it was still satisfying. 

Now that I’ve read this one I totally want to read The Girl who played with Fire!!  Dang you Stieg for making your books so juicy and additive!!

A New Hobby

A few months ago I decided I needed a new hobby.  I consider cooking a hobby already.  I’m trying out this new thing where I use a new recipe each week so I don’t end up making the dishes every week.  It’s going pretty well but since I got back from vacation I haven’t gone to the grocery store so there’s only wine, soda, and tortillas in my fridge.  I should probably go pretty soon… 

Anyways, back to my new hobby.  So I figured, in addition to cooking, I needed something more.  Just then, like an angel looking down on me (maybe a bit of an exaggeration but whatever), there was a Groupon for knitting classes at a local shop a few blocks away from my place.  I instantly bought it.  It was for two classes.  Knitting 101 and 201.  Figured I should get to know the basics in 101 and then some in 201.  Due to some scheduling conflicts, I was finally able to sign up for classes and had my first one last Tuesday.  This is what I’ve made so far:

 

Not very impressive and the sides are a bit off and the stitches themselves are kind-of lose but I’m proud of my inch of stitches.  It did take a while to understand what the heck to do.    And it’s taking some getting use to on how to hold the needles and stuff like that.  My child like hands make it a bit hard sometimes.  (I usually feel like this.) None the less, I can’t wait till I get a little bit better and can actually make something, like a hat or socks.  I know, I’m dreaming big here.  My friends and family have been warned that their Christmas presents will be stitched with love and probably will be something they will never use.  Enjoy!!

Cooking for my Soul

One of my favorite things to do is cook.  I love it and I’m pretty decent too.  Why buy something filled with fake ingredients and preservatives when you can just make it at home.  Yes, it takes a bit of work but everything always taste so much fresher and just better for you since you know what you are using.  My dream would be to have a fully stocked kitchen with all the stuff the people on Foodnetwork use.  A huge blue Kitchenaid Stand Mixer, stainless steel pots and pans, every spice known to man (or at least the ones that are popular in North America), white porcelain dishes,  and all Electrolux appliances.  It would be perfect.  A girl can dream can’t she.

My next receipe to make: Brown Sugar Peaches taken from the Epicurious website.  (My new favorite website)