Hi everyone!
Laila took Chris, Irma and me on a beautiful walk out at Teller Farm. We went to a new cafe out at 95th and Arapahoe - The Curiousity Cup - very nice with a great outdoor patio. Right next door is the Indulgence Bakery with some mighty fine looking treats.
Book Report:
I finished Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos - kind of Lifetime TV movie caliber - not great literature but somehow I was drawn in to the story. Not sure I'd recommend this one.
From Publishers Weekly
Cornelia Brown, heroine of de los Santos's bestselling Love Walked In, returns in a gracefully written if formulaic sophomore effort. Cornelia and her husband, Teo, move to suburban Philadelphia, where she finds it difficult to fit into the sorority-like atmosphere. Despite a bevy of domestic dramas (planning a family among them), Cornelia's first-person chapters are the quietest of the three points of view. Seemingly shallow and vicious, neighbor Piper shows her kinder side as she struggles through her best friend's fight against cancer. Though the extreme of Piper's two-facedness isn't convincing, her moments of sincerity invite genuine empathy. Cornelia also yields narrative time to Dev, a precocious teenager whose father is missing and whose mother develops a friendship with Cornelia. Dev's connection to the story is initially unclear, though he does grow close to Clare, a troubled teenager with an unconventional connection to Cornelia, and a late-breaking development grounds his role more firmly. Though each story line is a good read on its own, they don't always braid nicely, and while the predictable plot wanders into sappiness, the prose is polished and the suburban travails are familiar enough that fans of the women's fiction and higher-brow mommy lit will relate.
Jexy and her book group are reading the first in the Stephanie Meyer series - Twilight - apparently written for young adults, they are enjoying it.
Amazon.com Review
"Softly he brushed my cheek, then held my face between his marble hands. 'Be very still,' he whispered, as if I wasn't already frozen. Slowly, never moving his eyes from mine, he leaned toward me. Then abruptly, but very gently, he rested his cold cheek against the hollow at the base of my throat."
As Shakespeare knew, love burns high when thwarted by obstacles. In Twilight, an exquisite fantasy by Stephenie Meyer, readers discover a pair of lovers who are supremely star-crossed. Bella adores beautiful Edward, and he returns her love. But Edward is having a hard time controlling the blood lust she arouses in him, because--he's a vampire. At any moment, the intensity of their passion could drive him to kill her, and he agonizes over the danger. But, Bella would rather be dead than part from Edward, so she risks her life to stay near him, and the novel burns with the erotic tension of their dangerous and necessarily chaste relationship.
Meyer has achieved quite a feat by making this scenario completely human and believable. She begins with a familiar YA premise (the new kid in school), and lulls us into thinking this will be just another realistic young adult novel. Bella has come to the small town of Forks on the gloomy Olympic Peninsula to be with her father. At school, she wonders about a group of five remarkably beautiful teens, who sit together in the cafeteria but never eat. As she grows to know, and then love, Edward, she learns their secret. They are all rescued vampires, part of a family headed by saintly Carlisle, who has inspired them to renounce human prey. For Edward's sake they welcome Bella, but when a roving group of tracker vampires fixates on her, the family is drawn into a desperate pursuit to protect the fragile human in their midst. The precision and delicacy of Meyer's writing lifts this wonderful novel beyond the limitations of the horror genre to a place among the best of YA fiction. (Ages 12 and up) --Patty Campbell
Website of the Week - http://www.rosengartenreport.com/ - for the best of everything related to food
Podcast of the Week - from NPR, Political Rewind - http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=94411892
Vocabulary Word of the Week - grace
We had quite a lively discussion of this word at our New Earth Study Group this week - Eckhard Tolle used it in the following way - "The initiation of the awakening process is an act of grace. You cannot make it happen nor can you prepare yourself for it or accumulate credits toward it...............Only the first awakening, the first glimpse of consciousness without thought, happens by grace, without any doing on your part"
Just a few definitions from ARDictionary.com
Definition: The exercise of love, kindness, mercy, favor; disposition to benefit or serve another; favor bestowed or privilege conferred.
Definition: The divine favor toward man; the mercy of God, as distinguished from His justice; also, any benefits His mercy imparts; divine love or pardon; a state of acceptance with God; enjoyment of the divine favor.
Definition: Inherent excellence; any endowment or characteristic fitted to win favor or confer pleasure or benefit.
Definition: Beauty, physical, intellectual, or moral; loveliness; commonly, easy elegance of manners; perfection of form.
Cooking and Dining Report:
Mallomars - I grew up with these treats and got this recipe for a homemade versionthat was demo'd on The Today Show this week -
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26775825/
I made a really simple roast butterflied (backbone removed) chicken this week flavoring it with prepared olive tapenade under the skin, a little olive oil, salt and pepper on the outside and in a 425 degree oven for about an hour.
Jack requested Spaghetti and Meatballs so, in spite of our warm weather, I just prepared a batch of Ina Garten's Real Meatballs and Spaghetti for dinner tonight. She uses veal, pork and beef and I think that is the secret to a really wonderful meatball. My kitchen smells divine! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/real-meatballs-and-spaghetti-recipe/index.html.
Quote of the Week -
“The winds of grace are always blowing; all we need to do is raise our sails.” Anonymous
Six members of our book group (Barbara Lamm and her book group will be there also) are heading out to Steamboat Springs this coming Friday for the Literary Sojourn. This is an annual event for us and I am looking forward to the weekend. I'll have a full report next week but check out the website for a preview of the authors we'll be meeting and hearing. www.literarysojourn.org
Have a great week!
Love,
Susan
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