Bonjour and happy Wednesday. I’ve been researching French things to do for an upcoming trip to New England. If you have any recommendations, please send them my way. We’ll be in Boston, New Hampshire, and parts of Maine up to Portland. We were recently in the mood for a cottage pie-type dish so I used recipes from Instantly French! (probably my favorite cookbook) and A Kitchen in France to make a Brisket Parmentier. Once I tweak the recipe a bit…
At the beginning of August we took a road trip out to Montana and Wyoming, our first stop being Glacier National Park in Montana. We stayed three nights in the West Glacier KOA that is just outside the park entrance. The KOA was okay: the bathrooms and showers were fine and the layout was okay but there was a lot of noise from other campers and the food we ate at the cafe there wasn’t good (we had a rib…
Bonjour and happy Wednesday. I’ve been jumping head first into the Halloween holiday season, which for me starts September 1 since one month just isn’t enough. Pleasantly, surprisingly I have a few non-fiction French books that fit into spooky-themed reading so keep an eye out for those reviews if you’re interested. Or you can follow me on Goodreads to see what I’m up to. BookI recently finished the second book in the Cassidy Blake series by Victoria Schwab. I cannot…
Nobody Cares by Anne T. Donahue 4/5 StarsI really enjoyed these essays and can relate to Anne in many ways (anxiety! Titanic! Harry Styles!) but towards the end she got pretty politically preachy. I listened to the audiobook version and really enjoyed that the author read it. The essay format and humor was a breath of fresh air compared to what I usually read and I look forward to more from this author. Overall I liked it and would recommend.kindle,…
Years ago I made my own master packing list to avoid creating a new one each time I packed, saving time and minimizing the chance that I’d forget something. It is so easy to remove what I don’t need each time I have a new trip to plan for- I’ve never looked back! It may take you a trip or two before you think of everything you will want to have on your list, but once you have it you’ll…
Bonjour and happy Wednesday. I am recently back from a nine-day road trip to Montana and Wyoming and a weekend trip to Victoria, BC. I’ve been spending as much time at home as possible to recharge my batteries and don’t have any trips planned until New England in October. BookOne of my favorite food bloggers, Audrey from Pardon Your French, has a cookbook coming out in October. She has created my favorite quiche recipe and I’ve heard there’s a savory…
I’m pretty surprised at how many books I read (12) and reviewed (10) this month. Now that I look back it’s fewer than I read in June but I guess July was busier for me. We’re getting ready to head out on a summer road trip. I’m only bringing my kindle so I won’t be putting a dent in my physical TBR pile but I have an even worse problem digitally because of so many free or really cheap books….
Bonjour and Happy Wednesday! I have been busy planning the road trip that we leave for in less than two weeks. We’ll be camping (in a campground, nothing too extreme) eight out of nine nights so my packing list is the longest it has ever been. It’s going on two pages but hopefully that means it will be impossible to forget anything. I’ve also actually been working on photography (also in anticipation of the trip) and reading, reading, reading. BookThis…
I was delightfully surprised with how much I enjoyed Sparrowhawk. Artemisia has had a difficult time (mostly with her stepmother and one of her half sisters) growing up as an illegitimate child. Set in mid-nineteenth century England, Artemisia has spent her time as a lady’s maid for her sister Elizabeth, who has just died. Fortunately the sister she is close with, Caroline, is still alive. Elizabeth was set to marry someone who would help their family’s financial situation, but now…
The Little Shop of Found Things by Paula BrackstonI really like many aspects of this book. Xanthe is an antiques dealer who can “hear” certain pieces telling her their story. She discovers one piece that causes her to travel back in time and ties her to an angry ghost who is looking for her daughter’s name to be cleared of a crime. My issue with this book is that it seems a few great ideas (time travel, ghost, magical realism)…