Selling a few books
I am cleaning out my library (need more shelf space!) and am selling a few duplicate copies I have.
If you’re interested check here and if you need me to ship it to you I’ll just ask you to reimburse me for cost!
Mocha Crunch Pie
I snagged this recipe from Slate.com and made a few modifications. It enlivened our Christmas celebration and my morning coffee. I’ve made it twice and modified it a bit. Give it a try!
Mocha Butter Crunch Pie
CRUST
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup cold butter
3 tablespoons finely chopped chocolate (semisweet)
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons (maybe more) water
FILLING
1/2 lb. soft unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
4 teaspoons instant coffee
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted
4 eggs
TOPPING
2 cups cold heavy cream
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon instant coffee
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
OPTIONAL: Grated chocolate or chocolate curls
For Crust
Preheat over to 350F. Combine flour, salt, and brown sugar. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender. Stir in the nuts and chocolate. Mix in the vanilla and water. Work the mixture to combine (use your hands). Push mixture into a lightly buttered 13 x 9 dish and cover the bottom. Bake for about 18 minutes. Cool.
For Filling
Cream butter until fluffy and smooth. Add sugar, coffee, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the melted chocolate. Again beat smooth. Add the eggs one by one, beating for several minutes after each addition. Spread the mixture over the crust. Chill for several hours. (At this point the pie can be wrapped and frozen. Defrost in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours.)
For Topping
Just before serving, whip together the cream, coffee, powdered sugar, cocoa, and vanilla until stiff enough to hold a shape. You can just spread this across the top or use a pastry bag to pipe rosettes all over the top. Garnish, if desired, with grated chocolate or chocolate curls. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
CRUST
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup cold butter
3 tablespoons finely chopped chocolate (semisweet)
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons (maybe more) water
FILLING
1/2 lb. soft unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
4 teaspoons instant coffee
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted
4 eggs
TOPPING
2 cups cold heavy cream
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon instant coffee
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
OPTIONAL: Grated chocolate or chocolate curls
For Crust
Preheat over to 350F. Combine flour, salt, and brown sugar. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender. Stir in the nuts and chocolate. Mix in the vanilla and water. Work the mixture to combine (use your hands). Push mixture into a lightly buttered 13 x 9 dish and cover the bottom. Bake for about 18 minutes. Cool.
For Filling
Cream butter until fluffy and smooth. Add sugar, coffee, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the melted chocolate. Again beat smooth. Add the eggs one by one, beating for several minutes after each addition. Spread the mixture over the crust. Chill for several hours. (At this point the pie can be wrapped and frozen. Defrost in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours.)
For Topping
Just before serving, whip together the cream, coffee, powdered sugar, cocoa, and vanilla until stiff enough to hold a shape. You can just spread this across the top or use a pastry bag to pipe rosettes all over the top. Garnish, if desired, with grated chocolate or chocolate curls. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
World War Z
This was only my second zombie book (first was I Am Legend
Max Brooks’s “oral history” was a fascinating read. I have a low tolerance for gore but the descriptions, while graphic, were not too intense for me. The variety of testimonies and post-war timeline kept me from getting too intensely invested in one character and so the tension never ratcheted up past my, admittedly low, threshold.
I long with the creative and interesting accounts of battles, strategies, and strongholds, Brooks weaves plenty of clever cultural and political commentary. I especially enjoyed his comments on the weaknesses of purebred dogs, the strengths and weaknesses of a cultural of individuality, and the impact of violence on societies and individuals.
The Eyre Affair
I was given this book
It is clever and engaging but doesn’t rise above the level of light entertainment. Which is, of course, perfectly fine. Light entertainment is an enjoyable part of life.
Jasper Fforde includes enough literary allusions, academic in-jokes, and time-travel conundrums to keep things moving, even if the plot wasn’t already brisk.
I am as intensely familiar with the plot of Jane Eyre as the protagonist is supposed to be and I only have one quibble with how it is represented. Fforde posits that Rochester intended to marry Blanche Ingram when he very clearly did not. Rochester declares to Jane, the morning after their engagement, that he only courted Blanche to make Jane jealous. He also indicates in the gypsy woman episode that, while in disguise, he lied about his fortune in order to cool her interest in him – this some five weeks before proposing to Jane! This discrepancy is not attributable to the alternate history caused by time travel as it is reaffirmed in the re-writing of the book.
Starting the New Year
So far 2012 is going very well.
We rang in the new year with 8 of our very best friends. We spent the evening eating, discussing Constantine’s eldest son Crispus, women in ministry positions, and the relative merits of such diverse things as The City of God, Harry Potter, “Tangled,” and The Lord of the Rings.
The next morning we attended church and then Jared and the boys headed up to Lucky Peak to play in the mud with more good friends while I went to the 4th annual White Elephant Book Exchange.
I borrowed a shelf-full of books on my 2012 reading list from Brent and am looking forward to extending my sci-fi and fantasy education.
I am almost finished with Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair and will review it soon.
I started Latin lessons this morning. Pronunciation and 4 conjugations – wheee!
The other night I awoke in a cold sweat from a nightmare wherein I had gone two entire days without reading. Good to know that my subconscious priorities closely mirror my conscious ones.
My Favorite Places to Eat
I don’t know about your world but in mine reading and eating just go together.
When I curl up with a good book the situation goes from great to amazeballs just by adding something to nibble on. I like small candies (M&Ms, Nerds, Reese’s Pieces, etc), popcorn and lemonade, beef jerky, or cookies.
When I sit down to a meal alone I am quite miserable if I can’t find some reading material to go along with it; I no longer try to read while eating with other people.
And so, here is a list of my favorite places to eat, rated both for the food quality and the ease of reading while eating.
#1. My couch. It’s the best simply because the food is usually good (I’m a decent cook), the privacy is total, the seat is comfortable, and I can never be without a book (a library of several thousand books is in the next room).
#2. Bar Gernika. This is the best place for any dry reading and also great for absorbing reading. The noise level is moderate, the food fantastic, there is always a decent beer or wine available, and the servers don’t look at me like I have two heads when I sit down alone and order with a book in my hand.
#3. Dawson Taylor Coffeehouse. The coffee is truly great and coffeeshops are natural places to sit and read in public. I can’t always find a seat though, and they don’t have a wide selection of foods.
#4. Bittercreek Ale House. Good beer and good food help but I almost always get the two-heads look and unless I sit next to the window during the day it is too dim to read. The french fries do balance things out quite a bit…
Anyone else have favorite reading and eating places?
10 Questions
(But I only answered 9!)
Here is a Q & A with me over at All Things Expounded.
Like a Mad Woman
I’ve been reading like a madwoman. I wolfed down The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, am four-sevenths of the way through The Chronicles of Narnia, and just finished the first volume of The Book of the New Sun. I am living on coffee and wine and fudge and the very best fantasy ever written.
In other news: I’ve ordered stacks of books off my 2012 reading list from Amazon and have heard a rumor that my delightful mother-in-law has been investigating my wish-list. I cannot wait!
Lately
I’ve been getting ready for Christmas lately. Shopping. Baking. Planning. Inviting.
I’ve been working on my Lewis Library project (albeit slowly).
And I’ve been reading for the sheer indulgent pleasure of it. First The Lord of the Rings. Next The Chronicles of Narnia. And lastly The Book of the New Sun. I hope I make it through all 16 books before the end of the year (counting The Hobbit and Urth of the New Sun in that total).
The List for 2012
The last few years have been slower reading years for me. I have dropped well below my usual pattern of 100-ish books in 12 months and even farther below my 2008 high of 200. Part of this has been due to my graduate work, which absorbed much of my time; part due to the depressive episode I struggled with; and part due to a lack of planning. Generally, I find it much easier to accomplish something if I spell it out and make it public. The specificity helps, as does the fear of shame if I fail.
I’ve now posted my reading list for 2012 here.
A few notes:
As stated on the list I have a couple of goals. The most important one to me personally is learning some Latin. As a lover of the classics I am always slightly ashamed that I’ve never even begun to study Latin. I want to work my way through the series of video lessons, vocabulary lists, and interlinear translations I’ve planned. My hope is that by the end of the year I will feel comfortable with very basic reading and translation. I have no idea if I am being wildly optimistic or not. We’ll see how it goes!
While I’ve read many, many classics, I do have a few gaps left. The eighteen classics listed include two repeats that I haven’t read recently enough and the other sixteen will be new for me. I’m excited to get to know them.
The heavy science fiction and fantasy reading is a bit of a lark. I do consider these genres to be truly enduring, and I hope to teach a course some day that explores those qualities, I actually haven’t read very widely in science fiction and fantasy. I tend to find a single author and then read very deeply in their catalog. I’m excited to spread out a bit more.
Finally, there are some oddments under “Other” that I’ve had on my to-read list for awhile and I’m eager to get to them (especially the Chesterton!). I’m a little concerned about trying to obtain all of these books, I only own a handful on the list, but with room on my shelves I’m sure to find the money…