Library Loot IX

It's December! Can you believe it?

December is typically my slowest reading month of the year. And when I say slow, I mean s l o w. As in some years nonexistent. Last December, I read all of two books and in December 2007 I read zero books! Zero! This year, I'm determined to beat my record and make time to read at least four books this month. But it will have to get done somewhere between all my regular goings on plus all of those fun seasonal goings on like decorating the house for the holidays, baking holiday treats, making homemade gifts, shopping, entertaining friends, etc. So I may need a little luck to get those four books in. And maybe a little less sleep! ;)

Now for this week's Library Loot!

Library Loot is a weekly blog event that encourages bloggers to share what books they borrowed from the library that week. To participate, simply make your Library Loot post on your blog and link it using the Mr. Linky link at Marg's blog Reading Adventures or Eva's blog A Striped Armchair. FYI, this week's Mr.Linky is at Marg's.

Vision in White by Nora Roberts


Vision in White is the first novel in the new contemporary romance quartet titled The Bride Quartet by author Nora Roberts. Each book in the series features the love story of each of four friends who co-own a wedding service business as they find their own happily ever after. For months I've been pausing to admire the beautiful cover art for Vision in White every time I saw it featured on a book blog, probably starting with Hilcia's review on Musings of a Bibliophile where she guest blogs for Brie. Once the second novel was released earlier this fall, I began to pause to admire the cover art of Bed of Roses as well. Then once I read Lisa's review of Vision in White and in more or less the same week read (skimmed) the buddy review of Bed of Roses by nath, Ames, Monroe, and Chantal on Breezing Through, I realized I would probably really love these stories. So I put the two books on hold and finally got called by my library for Vision in White a few days ago. I'm really looking forward to reading it and will probably pick it up as soon as I finish the book I'm reading now. Especially since it's only a 14 day book and I've had it since the weekend already! Bed of Roses I will have to wait a bit longer for as I'm 8th on the hold list! Yikes!

Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich.

I'm making my way through the first few books in the Stephanie Plum series. Strangely, my library doesn't have the third book. At all. It looks like they have books 1 and 2, then 4 through 15 or 16 or whatever the latest is, plus all the filler books in between. But no book 3. How did that happen? Anyway, I found the third book at a neighboring library and picked it up yesterday. I enjoyed the first two books in the series well enough, but I'm hoping that Stephanie develops some kind of "real" relationship with someone soon. Maybe with Joe or Ranger or even a woman for crying out loud. A best friend, a lover, something. All of her relationships seem to, I don't know, lack depth or something. She doesn't seem close with anyone. Except for maybe Grandma Mazur. Or her hamster. She needs some depth in her life. She also needs to eat better. Have you noticed that all she eats is junk food! That's no way to stay on top of her game. :)

Do you have any library loot this week?

What are you reading right now?

I'm a Runner

I did it!

I decided to do the 5 Mile Run today that was the unofficial, non obligatory, culminating event to the Fall Run class that I've been taking for the last five weeks. Just five weeks ago, I posted about my spontaneous decision to sign up for the Fall Run class considering I didn't like running and I could barely run 2 miles without stopping. Now here I was today, running in a 5 Mile Run! I'm so glad that I decided to do it. I have such a great feeling of accomplishment.


This is a photo of me and my running partner coming across the finish line at 1:01:47. After doing time trial runs last week, I had hoped to run 5 miles in 00:57:00. Oh well. At least now I have a goal for my next race!

My husband took the photo. He and our girls came to cheer me on at the end of the race. I saw them at the 4 mile mark, then they took a shortcut to the finish line where they greeted me with hugs and kisses, congratulations and of course, photo ops! They made me so happy. :)

I actually learned today that this was not the end of the run class after all. We started a week late because of scheduling issues at the beginning, before I even signed up, so we have one more week. Tuesday we're going trail running on the trails along a lake in the nearby Wildlife Reservation. I can't wait! Says the non-runner as of five short weeks ago. But not anymore. Now . . .

I'm a runner.

Turkey Quesadillas with Brie and Cranberry Sauce

Got leftovers?

This is a delicious way to use left over turkey and cranberry sauce from your Thanksgiving feast. This recipe serves one, but you can easily double the recipe and make several of these for the whole family. It can also be used as an appetizer, but I'd probably use small tortillas so that the wedges are finger food sized.



Turkey Quesadillas with Brie and Cranberry Sauce

1/2 teaspoon butter or oil
1 large flour tortilla
1/2 cup chopped cooked turkey
2 oz. brie, cut into chunks
1 1/2 tablespoons cranberry sauce

Heat butter or oil in a large skillet over medium high heat until melted and hot.

Lay tortilla in skillet and arrange the turkey, brie and cranberry sauce evenly on one side of the tortilla. Carefully fold over the empty side of tortilla onto the filling and cook until tortilla starts to brown, about 2-3 minutes. Flip tortilla over and cook until other side is brown, about 2-3 minutes more.

Remove from skillet and cut into wedges.

Serves 1

Happy Thanksgiving . . .

I'm in the midst of cooking a Thanksgiving feast for my family, but wanted take a moment here to say how thankful I am for all of the friendships I've made through the blogging community throughout the last couple of years. I thoroughly enjoy interacting with all of you whether we talk about books, cooking, gardening, crafts, personal goals and even the heartaches of life, I cherish your friendship and am thankful for your presence in my life.

Our Thanksgiving Menu

Roasted Turkey with Sage

Onion Gravy

Mixed Bread Stuffing

Wild Rice Pilaf

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Pecans

Mashed Potatoes with Chives

Caramelized Sweet Corn

Green Bean Onion Casserole with Mushrooms

Glazed Pearl Onions

Spiced Cranberry Sauce

Maple Pumpkin Pie

Apple Crumb Pie

Coconut Custard Pie

Library Loot VIII

Before I share my Library Loot, I have another update on my running. Yesterday was the last day of my fall running class that I've been doing for the last several weeks. We did a time trial run to find out the time it takes us to run a mile, then we worked on maintain that same pace for the duration of the entire run. I paced a mile fairly consistently at about 11 minutes 30 seconds, with my second mile actually a bit faster than the first. I'd love to improve my mile pace to at least a 10 minute mile, and lucky for me, the gym has decided the pilot class was successful enough to allow it to be a permanent part of the fitness classes offered. So I've decided to continue training and sign up for the next session and run through the winter. In the meantime, I still haven't registered for the 5 Mile Race on Saturday, but found out I can register on race day, so I'm still considering it. I don't think I'm ready to run a full 5 miles yet, and I'm not sure how I'll feel mentally if I have to walk part of it. Just in case I do decide to do it, though, I'm going to run tomorrow morning with my running partner from class to get another run in this week and we're going to discuss the race. Heck, if I run 2 miles on Thanksgiving morning, maybe I won't feel as guilty for having a slice of both pumpkin and apple pie before the day over. ;)

Now for today's Library Loot!

Library Loot is a weekly blog event that encourages bloggers to share what books they borrowed from the library that week. To participate, simply make your Library Loot post on your blog and link it using the Mr. Linky link at Marg's blog Reading Adventures or Eva's blog A Striped Armchair. FYI, this week's Mr.Linky is at Marg's.

As usual, I didn't plan on borrowing any books from the library this week. I have two library books on my nightstand that are due back very soon, one of which I have already renewed once, so I really ought to read those before I start borrowing more. Plus I am next on the hold list at my library for the first book in Nora Roberts' new Bride Quartet, and I think it should be in soon. Plus I there are a few new releases out now that I'd like to buy and read. Yet I ran in to return a book today, and well, who can resist?

Cry No More by Linda Howard.

I had this title jotted down in my notes as a "Linda Howard must read," recommended to me by one or more of my trusted blogging friends. Which trusted blogging friends, I can't really say, because I forgot! Maybe it was azteclady? I know orannia recommended Mackenzie's Legacy by Linda Howard, which I will get to eventually through interlibrary loan since mine doesn't have it. In the meantime, I'm going to check out Cry No More. I've read two other Linda Howard novels and thought they were sweet romances, but I'm still waiting to be carried away with one of her works. Maybe this one is it.

Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey.

Once I had Cry No More in my hands, I went looking for Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie, another popular and favorite read that has been recommended by numerous romance blogging friends. Every time I look for this book, it is always out and I always neglect to put a hold on it. Today was no exception. As I made my way to the check out desk, I walked passed the 'new books' section, and I use the term 'new books' loosely when referring to my library because the books on this shelf can be any book new to the library within the last 12-18 months. I guess 'new' is a relative term when you think of all the books shelved at a library. So I'm walking passed the 'new books' shelves, not even looking at titles and all of a sudden, in a random moment, my eyes simply focused on Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey and I knew it was meant to be. I've been curious about this book since I read reviews for it earlier this year by The Book Smugglers and at least one or two other trusted sites (Again with the forgetting...), and just the other day I was reminded of it when I saw another more recent review of it somewhere (More forgetting...).

I love the cover to this one, too. Kind of dark, mysterious, fluid. I want to know more about the young woman on the cover. Who is she? What is she capable of? I'm obviously looking forward to reading this one and will probably do so soon as it is a 'new book' and due back in just 14 days!

So tell me what's your latest library loot?

No library loot? Then tell me what's the last book you bought? I'm anxious to get to the bookstore myself this weekend to pick up a few books I've been waiting for.

Pumpkin Smoothie

More pumpkin love. Pumpkin ice cream is at the top of my list of favorite pumpkin treats. If you ever get the chance to try DoubleRainbow brand Pumpkin Ice Cream, it's sinfully delicious. My local Trader Joe's used to carry it around this time of year, but they haven't been stocking it. This pumpkin smoothie recipe is an easy to prepare and much healthier alternative to pumpkin ice cream anyway.

Pumpkin Smoothie

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp. packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground ginger

1 pinch ground cloves

1 pinch ground nutmeg

1/2 cup crushed ice

If you prefer your smoothie thick and slushy, freeze the pumpkin puree in ice cube trays or in dollops on a small baking pan lined with waxed paper first. Otherwise, you can simply use room temperature pumpkin puree in your smoothie.

Dollops (or chunks) of frozen pumpkin puree:

Combine pumpkin, milk, brown sugar, spices and ice in a blender and blend until smooth.

Pour into glasses and serve with a dash of ground cinnamon on top.

Enjoy! :)

A Fall Run Update & Some Organic Goodness

I had such an energetic morning today. Since I started that biweekly fall run class several weeks ago, I haven't been going to my usual Tuesday morning Zumba classes or my Thursday morning spin classes. This week, I decided to live by the simple, yet effective Nike motto and just do it. I went to Zumba Tuesday evening after running in the morning and today I went to 6 am spin class and then to run class from 10:30-11:30 am. We met at a different park today for the run class and ran 4 miles, which is the most I've continuously run in oh, maybe forever Interestingly, the third mile was brutal and then all of a sudden the fourth mile was done.

I guess the class is working at improving my endurance, but I have to say a lot of my success these last few weeks is most likely due to running in a group with these seven other lovely women. We talk a lot, although me not so much after the first mile and a half. Talking raises my heart rate too much and makes me huff and puff more, so I stick to short uh huh, yes, no type answers. Sometimes I'll add a sentence here and there, but it'll be like two or three words, pause, huff puff, two or three more words, pause, huff puff, and repeat until the sentence gets out. We mostly talk about fitness, fitness clothing, nutrition, healthy recipes, etc., so I'm really getting A LOT out of this class.

Next Tuesday is the last class and we're all discussing who wants to run the 5 Mile race on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Today's 4 mile run was the most I've ever done. I'm not so sure I'm ready to tackle 5 miles in just a week's time. I'm still debating. Cue Jeopardy music. ;)

In between spin class and running class, I got the girls off to school (with husband's help driving the teen to high school), and then went to help divide the produce up for all the families in my organic co-op. I did that from 8:45 to 10:15 am and as soon as it was done, I raced to the park for run class and barely made it there with a minute to spare. Needless to say, I could go for a serious nap right now. I only have a few minutes before I have to pick up the girls from school, though, so I thought I'd share this week's share with you instead of napping.

click on photo to enlarge

From left to right, starting at the top:
mustard greens, green leaf lettuce, celery,
sweet potatoes, parsnips, carrots, concord grapes, bananas
Candycrisp apples, brussels sprouts, pears, cauliflower and red cherry tomatoes
Underneath the brussels sprouts is a watermelon radish.

Can you guess why it's called a watermelon radish?

Isn't that pretty? I've had these in the past and found them to be rather mild, which I like since I'm not very keen on radishes in general. I'll just use a little here and there in salads until it's gone. ;)

Which item in my share this week looks or sounds most appealing to you?