Book Club

I've always wanted to be in a book club. Not the very serious, everyone HAS to read to come, very rigid list, snobby club (is that even a thing that happens or did I just make that up?), but a sit around drinking coffee, or tea, or wine, and sometimes talk about the book, but also just let conversation happen that the book brings up.

At the beginning of this school year, I was taking a long walk with my friend J and sharing some of my birthday list to do's. The next day, J was at a gathering of some mutual friends, and the topic if a book club came up again, so she said, "Erin wants to do that to. Let's do that. What book? How about this one?" and picked one off the shelf that she also had at home. Done and done. She called me up the next day to let me know Book club was formed, and we were meeting in a month. It was the easiest item to check off the list I think, because I didn't have to do any of the work.

The books to date are:
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (I didn't read this one)
Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Tracks by Robyn Davidson

The books have been good and the company has been great.

Perpetual Summer Album

I wanted to make sure I made a photo album of my travels over the world, which I called my Perpetual Summer. I was originally thinking about the old fashioned albums to stick the photos in, but my friend Alisha makes a printed book each year and I love the look of them. One day in June I went on Snapfish.com to see how easy it would be to make, and it was super easy. There was also a sale on them that ended in 13 hours so I settled in and just did it (after collecting a glass bottle of wine). I started out with the first page by typing up some of the journal entries I kept along the trip but soon realized this would take FOREVER. Also, no one I showed it to would read all those little words. And they were already written in my journal. And I really wanted something for people to hold while I told the stories. So I opted to include very basic titles and names of specific people and place's I might forget later. When it came to choosing the cover picture, there wasn't much doubt. This picture will forever sum up that year.

Gym Membership

The last time I was able to hold a membership to a gym was back in college. One of my favorite Anchorage days out was to go to the Dimond Athletic Club for a few hours to play with all their machines, go swimming, then spend an hour or more moving from hot tub, sauna, and steam with trips between to the pool to cool off. But now all that (excluding sauna and steam) is just a few minutes walk away from my house! The Yukon-Kuskokwim Regional Aquatic Health and Safety Center opened November 2, 2014. Then it was closed November 3. It was about two weeks before they could reopen with limited hours while they continued to work on a sprinkler issue. They have resolved the issue since and I've enjoyed being able to walk down the road and get a swim workout in, even with negative wind chills.

Subscribe to a new magazine

It had to be a magazine I didn't currently receive (no renewals) or one I've received in the past. One magazine I would ALWAYS pick up when making a stack of reading material to work through at Barnes and Noble was Real Simple. I even would buy one every now and then as a special little something to myself (that or Martha Stewart Living, forgive me my sins, but I love it). So today, when school was cancelled due to freezing rains, I looked at my birthday list and see what I could accomplish from home (only 23 days left!).  This was a real easy check off the list since I'd already decided a week or so ago that this was the one. I have gone paperless with my other magazines, but this is one I want for Saturday mornings, on the couch, with a cup of coffee, and that doesn't translate well through the tablet.

Try 5 new cultural dishes and complete recipes in one Paleo cookbook

These two complemented each other because the 5 new dishes came from the Paleo cookbook. I forgot to take pictures of each dish as I made it, but they were all delicious. It gave real purpose to my shopping and meal planning, which was important during the first few weeks that school started. I needed that mental break to think about and plan something besides 5th grade every night.

The five new dishes were:
Rogan Josh- much like curry, but a Kashmir blend of spices (I had no idea Kashmir was a thing)
Eggfoo Young- can't tell you if I had ever eaten before, but defiantly never had made it
Machacado- a Mexican dish made from shredded, dried beef, eggs, diced onion and tomato, and a touch of jalapeño
Scotch Eggs- OMG why have I never eaten these before? Sooo good.
Char Siu- (Cantonese) Definitely a recipe I would have never attempted without this challenge, because it requires prep, 30 minutes of marinating, and 1h 40m to cook, so of which involved turning, basting, then broiling slightly while keeping an eagle eye on it. I'm more of a set-it-and-forget-it type. Or stand at the stove for 30 minutes stirring stuff in a pan with a glass of wine in my hand. But it did turn out delicious.
Pad Thai- pretty darn good, but in Bethel, the ingredients are a bit expensive to get.


Also noted:
There were a couple other recipes that were just meatballs or salmon with new spice blends. The Morrocan, Chezch, and Bora Bora meatballs were all amazing and worth do-overs. The Salmon a L'Afrique Du Nord was ok, but I nothing I've been hankering to repeat.

The Book:

http://theclothesmakethegirl.com/wellfed/

5 New Spices

So I might have gone a bit overboard on preparing for this one. I did some ordering right after an intense inservice and a few days before school started, so I was a little stressed. So what to do to unwind a little? Read beautiful descriptions of exotic spices and order ALL of them.

There are still quite a few that I haven't tried yet. My favorite was the berbere seasoning. As Penzey's eloquently describes:

Awesomely hot and spicy North African-style hot pepper blend. No salt, no mild paprika, just a lot of Cayenne Red Pepper with the rich flavors of fenugreek and cardamom. It's not just hot, it's berbere hot.

Bible Study

Goal: Reread the entire bible

Since February 1

I am currently reading through the histories of the bible. It’s surprising how new and fresh every book can be when you return to it. For whatever reason, this time around, the continuous storyline is really easy to follow. The progression from having judges to kings helps keep the events straight. I’ve been trying to bullet point the main events as they happen. I also did 5 major event studies for the book of Judges.

I read the gospels around Easter and worked through the letters over the summer.

My plan is to then move through the prophets, reading them in chronological order. Then I’ll finish the poetry books, the law, and finish with Revelation.