Life is a Beach...I Wish!

      As I was searching for a theme to read during the month of May, I decided to go with a beach theme since we were taking a trip to the beach this month. My husband and I went to Hilton Head Island. We really enjoy the island and each time we go, we discover something new. This was our third trip to HHI and our first time to go in May, while school would normally be in session. It truly made retirement seem real. We did travel to Savannah one day and we had one rainy day, but the rest of the week we spent just lounging around the pool or the beach. I usually had a book to read while I was relaxing. We were renovating our kitchen at the time and our house was a disaster area. It was nice to get away and not have to climb over boxes or walk through dust. 

     So, lets get started with the beach reads. The first book I want to talk about is Love on Beach Avenue by Jennifer Probst. I read the Kindle version of this novel that I downloaded for free from an Amazon Prime first view free ebook.  Avery Sunshine is in the business of wedding planning. She and her sisters inherited the business from their parents. The setting is a small beach town where many people come to get married on the beach. The Sunshine sisters work to make every bride's dream come true. When Avery's old college roommate calls and asks her to help plan her wedding, Avery is so excited to be her wedding planner until her friend's brother gets in the way. Carter is not a fan of Avery's, ever since she and his sister impulsively sowed their wild oats together in college. How is she going to plan her best friend's wedding with her brother, Carter in the way. Will there be a battle or is romance in the air? 

    We continue our beach theme with The Summer Retreat by Shelia Roberts. Celeste is an elementary school teacher and she is engaged to get married, until her fiance is caught cheating. Celeste wondered why he kept putting off setting a date or introducing her to his parents. When she catches him with another woman, while going to take him soup because he said he was sick, she realizes her plans are changing. She decides to go back to the beach town where she grew up to spend her summer. She helps her sister at the local Inn she manages and actually helps to clean the rooms. In one of the rooms, she thinks she has found the makings of a serial killer. But, how can a guy, that good looking be a killer? Could she be wrong? She could use something, or someone, to distract her from her troubles. What better place to find that than at the beach. 

     I had to include a classic Nicholas Sparks novel since I was choosing romancey beach reads. Nights in Rodanthe is one that I have never read before. This story reminds us that love can be found at any age. A mother tells her daughter a story of love that she had no idea her Mom was keeping from her. Amanda's mom and dad divorced after he cheated on her mom with a younger woman. Adrienne spent her life raising her children and gave no thought to her own happiness after her husband left her. She was helping a friend by watching her Inn on Rodanthe Island in North Carolina when she meets Paul. She and Paul share just a few days together, but what they share is surreal. Can Adrienne share her story with her daughter, Amanda, who is hurting after the death of her husband? This is a beautiful story of love, healing, and forgiveness.      

     I also chose a title by an Asian American author, Nancy Jooyoun Kim, The Last Story of Mina Lee. This was my audiobook  for the month and I chose it because May is also Asian heritage month. This book was about a young Korean American born girl who lives in Seattle but comes home to Los Angeles to visit her Korean mom and she finds her dead in her apartment in Korea town. She and her mom are not real close and Margot tries to find out what happened to her mom. The police say it was an accident, but she is not so sure. As she goes through her mother's things, she learns some things about her mother that she didn't know.  What secrets was her mom hiding? The book goes back and forth between Margot's search for what happened to her mother, Mina, and Mina's story of why she came to America as an immigrant. I enjoyed this story because it opened my eyes to how minority groups are treated when they try to come to America to make their life better. They work so hard and no one sees past their accents to get to know them as individuals. One of the reasons I enjoy reading various types of fiction is to learn about different cultures and peoples. 

                                         

     The last book I chose because of the title, Savannah Blues by Mary Kay Andrews. I knew we were going to Savannah one day and I really enjoy the rich culture in that city. This was a mystery involving an antique dealer and the selling of a historical mansion to build a paper factory. Can Weezie save the historical home, find the antique hutch that can help her open her own antique store, and maybe possibly find love?  It was kind of cool reading this book that mentioned various places in Savannah, where we just recently visited. 

Since we were on vacation and out kitchen was still being renovated, I did not do a lot of cooking, so I thought I would share some of the great food we had on our beach trip. I am definitely a foodie and enjoy trying new restaurants, dishes and drinks. 

Our first stop was in Berea, Ky at a small Amish deli. The sign with 26 different cheeses sold me instantly. I LOVE cheese. I had the grilled cheese on sour dough bread. You got to choose up to two types of cheese for your sandwich. I chose pepper jack and bacon cheddar. It wad delish. 

We split the 10 hour drive into two days since we both have to make frequent stops for our aching hips, knees or backs. We spent the night in Asheville, NC and found a great burger spot called Juicy Lucy's. The burgers were awesome and the Kahlua Mudslide milkshake was yummy! We recommend Juicy Lucy's if you travel through Asheville.

As we left Asheville the next morning, we found a local coffee shop, Sweeter Creek Coffee. One of my favorite things about our road trips is finding the hidden local gems on the side of the interstate or off of the beaten path. I enjoyed a honey-gingered latte with a mixed berry scone. I am a lover of all things honey and I love trying various flavor combinations with it. 

A few beach pics around our condo area at the Hilton Head Tennis and Beach Club, one of our favorite spots, owned by some friends of ours. We highly recommend it if you need a quaint little spot by the beach. 

When we traveled to Savannah for one day, we had brunch at Clary's. This is a little diner where the author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil used to visit as he wrote his book. He would sit out on the sidewalk in front of the diner and eat and write and drink coffee. The food was delicious southern cooking. They served a typical diner menu and breakfast all day long. I love me some breakfast for lunch or dinner. 

When we go to Hilton Head we usually stop by the Salty Dog. This time we just enjoyed a couple of appetizers and drinks. We had a batch of the homemade hush puppies and some pimento cheese dip with home made pita chips and carrot matchsticks. I enjoyed a coyote and my husband had the pain killer. Nothing like sitting outside by the water enjoying good food, great drinks and music. It is an atmosphere like no other. 

I did mention that I like trying small coffee shops and that I love breakfast food, right? One of our faves in Bluffton, a little township outside of Hilton Head on the road to Savannah, is Corner Perk. On this trip I have developed a liking of grits. They served theirs with cheese along with my bacon egg biscuit. My hubby got a Mexican huevos skillet dish that was enough food for two. I also had a white fudge latte which was delicious. 

We were eating dinner at a restaurant near Calligney beach. Afterwards we found an ice cream shop that had 92 flavors of ice cream. The names of the ice creams were so creative and combined so many great flavors it was difficult to choose. Here is my choices of Cookie Monster, blue vanilla ice cream with oreos and Play Dough, vanilla ice cream with different colored cookie dough bits in it. 

On our last night at the beach, we treated ourselves to one of our favorite restaurants we have discovered at Hilton Head, a Lowcountry Backyard. Everything there is fresh, homemade and delicious. I had the shrimp and mushroom cobbler with a salad and we shared the fried green tomatoes, some of the best we have ever had. 

Thanks for visiting my blog and browsing through my various pictures of food. Make sure you come back in June when I review various books addressing LGBTQ+ issues. 

 

 

For the Love of the Earth and All Things Green.

      For the Month of April, I chose a theme that is Earth friendly. Since Earth Day is in April, I wanted to read books that were about climate change, global warming or had an Earth friendly theme of some kind. I have read some young adult books on this particular theme before, usually with a dystopian theme but I tried to find some adult fiction with the same theme. I really didn't find very many that I had access to. However, as I am finding with this monthly themed reading I found some interesting books that I would not have ordinarily picked out myself. So let's get started with the Earth love.  

     The first novel I read was South Pole Station by Ashley Shelby. This book is way out of my typical choice for reading. Towards the end of the book, there was LOTS of science that was a little above my head, but all in all it was an interesting read. It was about an artist who gets a grant to go to the South Pole station. The main purpose of the station is for scientist to study global warming. There was a group to prove the effects of global warning with one scientist who was trying to disprove the theory of global warming. The politics of global warning was addressed and played into the funding of the project. The main character, Cooper was an artist and received an art grant to stay at the South Pole station. I thought it was interesting that the project included an artist, a dancer, a novelist, and a psychologist. Living at the South Pole takes a toll on a person not only physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. This was a unique book that I would not have typically picked up if I had not looked for books with an environmental theme. It definitely made me stop and think about how being isolated in an area like the South Pole would make an impact on a person. Some of the characters found themselves missing green grass, sunshine, and various foods. Not a bad book to check out if you like to read something that makes you think about things in a different way. 

           

photo from Goodreads.com

      As we leave the South Pole we enter the library. The next book, Weather by Jenny Offill is written in short fragments and inner monologues. Occasionally there are snippets of the main character, Lizzie, and a typical day at the library where she works and interacts with patrons. I thought it was kind of cool that she was a librarian, I always love reading about fellow librarians. She helps a mentor answer emails and letters addressing issues on a podcast that she hosts. As she addresses queries and comments from the public at the library, and deals with answering mail from fans of the podcast, she starts to become engrossed in all things survival. Lizzie's obsession with the change in the weather and how it might affect her world has her second guessing if she is ready for a disaster if it happens. It really doesn't help that she plays "psychologist" for her brother who has addiction issues and her mother who has other issues.  Due to the fragments, this was a quick read; but I don't feel I get to know the characters as well with this style of writing. The format is not my favorite type of book to read, but the concept was interesting. 

photo from amazon.com

          If you really want to find a great read that deals with global warming or climate change, then you need to search through the young adult section of the library or book store. There are lots of dystopian books about what might happen to the earth if the weather patterns change. Such scenarios as moon phases changing and causing huge tides to flood the earth or make the earth's atmosphere much cooler causing things to freeze over. How about rampant forest fires that clear out a whole area or running our of clean drinking water, which is a very real fear for some countries, or even cities. Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis is a YA novel about the earth running short of drinking water. Part of the population is wiped out due to bacterial diseases caused by bad drinking water. Many of the population has moved from rural areas to big cities, with multiple people living in single family housing just to find clean drinking water. Those who choose to stay in the rural areas have to defend their clean water supplies like the cowboys had to protect their herds years ago. They stand guard with a rifle until they know the approaching visitor is friend or foe. Lynn has been taught to guard the family pond with a rifle from her roof top since she was a toddler. She and her mom live in their basement and very rarely go into the house upstairs. This is a unique story with unforgettable characters. The grittiness of the YA dystopian is what attracts young readers, but they tend to hook me as well. 

The last title I want to talk about has been my very favorite in this category. Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver is a beautifully written book. I listened to it on audiobook and it was read by the author. She has a very soothing voice and she included a soundtrack of the woods with birds singing and crickets chirping between chapters. This is not a global warming themed book, but it is an Earth friendly book. There are three story lines in the book and each chapter is told from the viewpoint of one of the characters from a story line. The setting is a rural area on farms and mountains in Virginia near southern Appalachia. Three of the characters have backgrounds in biology and the study of wildlife, insects or moths. All three story lines have females as their main characters that are strong and well versed in their field of study and often stand out in the community. I learned so much about how certain insects help plants that I didn't already know. I tend to be a naturalist myself and enjoy things that are organic and natural, so this book was right up my alley. It was also written very beautifully. I have read some of Kingsolver's books before, but it has been a while. I have read The Bean Trees and The Poison Wood Bible. Both were good books but it has been a while since I have read them and now I am interested in reading more of her work. If you do not come away after reading this book wanting to grow butterfly bushes, start your own bee hive or begin composting, then you didn't pay attention while reading it. I highly recommend taking time to slow down, enjoy the songs of the birds and read this book in a hammock among the trees. 

                            photo by abebooks.com

     We are in the middle of a kitchen remodel so I have not been able to really cook much lately. I really miss not being able to bake or make some of my homemade favorites. So, instead of sharing a recipe, I wish to share some photos of another hobby I really enjoy, flowers. I am not a cold weather person. I stay cold from around September 15th until May 1st. Once Spring rolls around, I feel so much better. The longer days of daylight, warmer evenings, sunshine just do my soul a world of good. I am not very good at it, but I do enjoy planting flowers. I also enjoy taking walks and enjoying God's creation and taking pictures along the way. So, I thought I would share some wonderful pictures of nature I have noticed this Spring. We have had wonderful blooms and color this year. I guess the wet winter helped to make the trees and plants bloom full of color this Spring. 

First came the pop of trees:

My neighborhood had some of the most beautiful dogwoods this year. I also noticed that the Bradford pears and the red buds were bright as well. I don't think I have seen them as full as they were this year. I have the runny nose to prove it too.

My forsythia in the front yard goes a little crazy each year. Our dog, Phil loves to do his share by helping to "water" my plants.

This beauty was outside of our local public library where I work. Not sure what it is, but it was just so full and pretty for about 5 days then the blooms fell off. 

This is my Japanese snowball bush. It has not bloomed for two years, but decided to this year. It grows like crazy. My husband pruned it severely last year and he thought he may have killed it. However, it is very hearty and came back with a vengeance. 

My knock out roses usually bloom by Derby weekend. I had one beauty partially open this year on Derby. 

This was the Monday after Derby and it was fully open with two more buds starting to bloom. I have a difficult time keeping the leaves on these. Something, maybe Japanese beetles, want to strip the leaves from my roses. I use Seven Dust, which Nannie in Prodigal Summer would not be happy with me. 

My azalea bushes are some of my favorites. I have one smaller one that I just can't seem to get to grow any bigger, and a large shrub by the front porch that was here when I bought the house in the late 1990's. It is a little big and out of control, but my husband pruned it back a lot last year and it looks better than it has in a while. I just can't make myself dig it up for fear of killing it. I love the color. 

Finally, my small potted annuals that I planted on Derby day this year: petunias, small pansies, begonias, sunlight inpatients, and I think some type of daisies. 

And, what has become my favorite hearty flower, the pansy. I planted these pansies last fall at the end of the season right before it got cold. They endured the eight inches of snow this winter and had blooms after the snow melted. Such a strong, yet delicate flower. 

Thank you for visiting my blog and make sure you stop by next month. I am still debating on what topic to read about during the month of May. We will be at the beach for one week in May, so I may just do beach reads. 

Keep reading and don't forget to take time to stop and smell the flowers. 

March Reads- Let's Hear it for the Ladies

      My reads for the month of March are all about the ladies. I read several books that were either about famous women, or fiction books with strong female lead characters. I have really enjoyed doing this monthly themed reading. I am already looking for books to read for my April theme, Earth/climate change/weather themed novels. So, lets get started discussing the books about strong women.

     I will begin with a book that I finished towards the end of February. It was titled Eleanor by David Michaelis. It was a wonderfully written biography of Eleanor Roosevelt. I have always admired her and have read many things about her. This book reads more like a novel and was very engaging. Mrs. Roosevelt was not always a strong lady and she made some poor judgments in her earlier days, but she learned from them and she became a very strong voice in politics. I admire her tenacity and work ethic. This is definitely a recommendation for those who like biographies about historical figures. 

The next book I read in March, Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen, is the story of sisters growing up in the south in the early 1970's with their widowed Dad who is a preacher. Catherine Grace is a force to be reckoned with and she is head strong. You may say she is a typical preacher's kid, but she is determined to leave the small town of Ringgold, Georgia as soon as she is of age. With the help of her neighbor lady, who was a good friend of her momma's, she learns about life in this coming of age novel in the south during the 70's. You will fall in love with this strong female character and will leave the book wanting to know more. 

     The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder  by Joanne Fluke introduces the character, Hannah Swensen. Hannah is a thirty plus single lady who owns her own bakery in the small town of Lake Eden. Her mother is always trying to set her up with eligible men but Hannah is happy with her life. She loves to bake and she has a demanding cat, Moishe that keeps her busy, plus she always seems to be at the right place at the wrong time to learn about a murder or some mischief in her small town. I really enjoy this series and this is the first one to introduce the characters and the town. There are always wonderful recipes included in the book as well. I just admire Hannah's independence and the fact that she is OK with being a single independent woman. 

     To continue with the cooking theme, The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan is a similar book to the Fluke novels, however it is more of a historical fiction. It is set in England during  World War II. The story is about four women who enter a cooking contest to win the opportunity to be on a radio cooking show. The show is about how to use the food rations during the war to make delicious dishes. How the women's lives intertwine is very interesting and their strength and courage during the war is commendable. How they were able to put together tasty dishes with what little rations they had is unreal. The author also includes their recipes throughout the story which is very cool. This was an enjoyable read if you like to cook and enjoy historical fiction as I do. 

     The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles is also a historical fiction. It is the story of the American library branch in Paris during World War II. The women, and a couple of older men, who work at the library are trying to keep the library open when the Nazi's occupy Paris. Odile learns a lot about friendship and loyalty when she tries to provide reading materials to her Jewish friends. Her father feels she is wasting her time, but she says her place is at the library.  If you enjoy Lilac Girls or The Paris Wife, you will enjoy this book about a very brave young lady during the Nazi occupation of Paris. 

     The last book I want to talk about is The Testaments by Margaret Atwood. I read The Handmaid's Tale a few years ago and I watched the series on Hulu. This is Aunt Lydia's story about Baby Nicole and follows up with Gilead after Offred ventures into the unknown. I really do enjoy Atwood's writing. She is very insightful and purposeful with her writing. Both of these novels deal with women being treated as second class citizens. The way things are going in the world today at times, it is a little scary about how some of the things she covers in her novels could come true today. The majority of her characters are female in this novel and they are all trying to do what is right and just for women. These are truly worth a read. 

    So I have been trying to learn to make and use sourdough. I have worked with making my own sourdough starter and I then fed it several times to make it active. I then made sourdough bread and my second batch was much better than my first batch. My last attempt was to make sourdough English muffins. They turned our pretty good. I have never been very good at bread making. I think I do not have the patience for it. You really have to let it sit, rise,rest,knead, wait, and I don't always like the waiting. Anyway, if you have difficulty with yeast breads, why not try the sourdough recipes. I did add a little yeast to my bread to give them a little lift. The English muffins did not need the yeast. My husband and I really enjoy the crunchy crust of the sourdough bread. There is just something about all of those little holes that you fill with butter then enjoy it warm. 

My first batch of successful bread. Successful being the key word. It was not my first batch of bread. 

Those beautiful holes that are characteristic of sourdough bread. 

My second batch of bread. I tried making one big loaf and two mini loaves. I just love the crusty top. 

My homemade English muffins. I made them on my cast iron griddle and used the lid of my new cast iron dutch oven to make them rise. They are my husband's favorite. 

Again, those delicious crevices for the melted butter to soak into. 

You can find many recipes for sourdough starter on Pinterest. I had success with the recipe in the book, Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza by Ken Forkish. He explains the process and the steps very thoroughly. 

Thank you for stopping by my blog. I hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend.  Hope to see you again next month when we talk about Earth friendly books. 

 

February Reads and Good Eats

    If you know me, you know I love to read. My to be read (tbr) list on Goodreads is up to 437 and I always have at least 3 books going at one time. I have books on my night stand, books on the end table where I sit in the living room and I am always bringing books home from where I work, part time at the public library. Did I mention I am a retired school librarian? So I guess it is just a job hazard to have access to so many great books. I love recommending books, sharing books, and picking out books for my friends. I even have a good friend I used to teach with that called me her personal librarian. I get a kick out of putting reserves on books for her that I think she will like and she gets a surprise phone call from the public library that her books are ready.

      So, when I set my reading goal for 2021, I decided to try to read 100 books this year. I thought about doing a reading challenge of selected books, I even researched special reading lists, but then that didn't happen. I have wonderful goals lately, but Covid-19, the winter blues, and menopause seem to make decisions FOR me lately. So, in January I just finished reading whatever I had started in December. For February, I tried to be more purposeful and chose books by black authors or romance books. I liked the idea of doing monthly themes plus I get to read some books I maybe wouldn't normally pick up this way, so I thought I would share with you the books I read in February. 

     So already I am going to cheat a little bit, the first book I finished the last day of January so I am going to count it with this collection I wish to share with you. It was titled Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam. The author is of Bangladeshi origins but his book is about two families of different races and ages, forced together in one home over a long weekend. What started as a vacation in the country in a nice "airbnb" type home with a pool, turns into a weekend with both the vacationers and the house hosts family staying together unexpectedly due to a strange phenomenon going on with the electric grid. A white couple with two teenage kids and an older black couple, the owners of the home, learn a lot about each other, and their own fears and preconceived ideas. Believe it or not, the strange phenomenon is not the main focus of this story, it is more of a self reflection for the characters. Not what I was expecting when I chose this book, but an interesting read. 

photo from Amazon.com

     Next, I read a young adult novel with a romance/drama feel to it. It was You Have a Match by Emma Lord.  Three teenage friends, two girls and one guy, decide to do a DNA test for their school family history project. One of them discovers they have a sibling they did not know they had. This makes them question why their parents kept it a secret all of these years. Since this is a friendship triangle, there is also some romantic feelings between two of the friends, but has been kept secret. This story has misconceptions and deals with sibling drama. I really feel like teenagers will be able to relate to these main characters. I know I no longer work in a high school library, but really still enjoy reading YA novels. 

      cover photo from Hoopla

     The next two books I want to talk about are in a series. I am really not a big romance reader, at least I didn't think I was. There is something about these books that are just fun to read. If you know what cozy mysteries are, you have a small town, fun characters, a pretty easy plot to work through, well, these are cozy romances. They are part of the Love at First Sight series by Karla Sorensen. I read Baking Me Crazy  and Batter of Wits. These are fun books because they allow you to just escape and enjoy the characters. I was attracted to the first novel because of the title. I am a baker and love to cook, so I thought why not read about a romance in a bakery. It was so much more. The main character was in a wheelchair. I liked the inclusion of someone in a wheelchair as the main character. You don't see this often, especially in a romance novel. I grew attached to the main character because I loved learning how she dealt with people and how they treated her in her wheelchair. Books allow us to take a walk in another person's shoes and they are great for building empathy. I was looking forward to seeing what continued with Jocelyn in the next book in the series, but the second book was more about some of the minor characters in the first book. It is a cute series and the books make for a great escape. They are a little steamy without being too vulgar. 

                   cover photo from Hoopla

     With a similar theme, The Secret Ingredient by Nancy Naigle was a fun romance based on a bakery. This was a Hallmark Movie romance novel, so I knew it would be a little sappy and a fun, easy read. Sometimes you just need something light to read, especially during this past year with being quarantined. This was a story about a small town Tennessee girl who worked at her parents' restaurant with her high school sweetheart. Her boyfriend, who also cooked at the restaurant, has an opportunity to go to Paris to learn with some of the best in culinary and decides to stay, even though they are engaged. Does she go to France with him or stay and fulfill a dream she has of owning her own place? This is a light romance that you can almost envision on the Hallmark channel as you read it. 

 cover from bn.com

    My last two books were by black authors. The first one, The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory is part of The Wedding Date series. I didn't realize that until I had started reading it, but apparently you can read them out of order. This was #3 in the series and I haven't read #1 or #2. I think it just continues with some of the same characters. This was also a cute romance but it was just a little more naughty than the Hallmark channel romances. Nothing to make me blush, but just so you are aware if you choose to read it. I really enjoyed the characters and couldn't wait to see how this one turned out. I think it is classified as a modern romance genre; worth a try if you like this genre. The last book I am sharing was an ebook I read titled Whiskey & RIbbons by Leesa Cross-Smith. I not only chose this one because she was a black author but she is from Kentucky. I enjoy reading local authors because the vernacular is so familiar and I love reading the story with local settings. This is kind of a love story/drama. It is about a set of brothers, secrets from the past about their parents, and a bond between one brother and his sister-in-law. If only there was a man as sensitive as Dalton in real life.  I have thoroughly enjoyed these February reads. 

cover from thriftbooks.com 

cover from shop.brainlairbooks.com

    Even though February is the month of all things chocolate, I really didn't cook anything chocolaty during the month. I did try my hand at some air fryer apple hand pies. My grandmother used to make homemade apple fried pies when I was a kid. She would make her own dough, or as she got older, she used canned biscuit dough, rolled it out, put her apple filling in and fried them in her cast iron skillet. They were so delicious that my grandfather wouldn't even let one go when he accidentally dropped one in my grandmother's dish water. He fished it out, dried it off and ate it. That was my Papaw Carman. I definitely get my sweet tooth from the Carman side of the family. When I found a recipe to make this delicious treat a little more healthy in the air fryer, I had to try it. I found my recipe, of course, on Pinterest. https://pin.it/2nkwwoZ It is very simple. I didn't have apple pie filling in the house so I made my own filling. I had some apples from my Misfit Market box that were starting to get spots on them, so they were perfect for my filling. I found a filling recipe on Pinterest as well. I knew what to put in the filling, but it helps to find a recipe for the proper measurements. https://pin.it/7Lc1iD6

    Once you make your filling, you just use pie crust. You can make your own, I have tried making homemade pie crust with no luck. I have no problems using the pie crust sold in the refrigerator or freezer sections at the local Kroger. I even like the Kroger brand of pie crust. Take one pie crust and roll it out. I used a 6 inch biscuit cutter, you can just make your own circles with a knife if you like, but the biscuit cutter makes them more of a perfect circle for me. I was able to get 3 or 4 circles our of one pie crust. I then took the scraps and rolled them out to make a smaller pie. It isn't as pretty, but taste just as good.Put a spoonful of apple filling on one side of the cut out dough circle. Then fold over the other half of the dough and pinch the edges together making a half moon. Thus how these delicious treats got their name from country folks, like me, of half moon pies.  You can also use a fork to close the edges together if you wish. Once you have made your little pies, then give them an egg wash. Just beat up an egg and using a pastry brush, brush on the egg to one side of the hand pie. Sprinkle a little decorator sanding sugar on the pie then place it on the frying tray. Do this to each hand pie then give them a light spray with whatever cooking spray you use, like Pam. They air fry on 350 degrees for 5 minutes then turn them over and air fry them for 5 more minutes. They come out crispy and delicious. Careful, filling is hot. :)

Thanks for reading and look for next month's reads when I cover books about strong female characters or historical women for Women's History Month in March. 

Choosing Healthy

      So, I was scrolling through Instagram and saw Bobby Flay advertising a Misfits Market, fresh food mail order service. Some of the items may be a little ripe, damaged, or not pretty, but still edible. It seemed like you got a lot of fresh food for a good price. I decided to try it. My first box came the first week of December. It was cold, gloomy, overcast, and I was desperate to find something new to cook. The restaurants had just been shut down again for dine in service so I was doing a lot more cooking at home. I love to cook, but I often get bogged down with finding new ideas. I thought if I ordered a box, it would force me to find new recipes and dishes to cook with whatever was in the box. One of the first dishes I am trying is Baba Ganoush. It is like a hummus made with eggplant. I got one big eggplant in the box and it was a little soft in some spots so I knew I had to use it first. I surfed Pinterest, my favorite place to look for recipes, and found an eggplant dip called baba ganoush. It seems similar to hummus. Here is the recipe I used https://pin.it/4FwSJfB .

              (my first Misfits Market box)

The baba ganoush was not bad, but I did not have tahini so I used peanut butter. The texture was pretty good, but it was a little bland. I think I prefer hummus made with chickpeas, but I am willing to explore and maybe try another batch after purchasing some tahini. 

(roasting the eggplant in the oven)

(the finished product- it had a great color and consistency)

In that same box I received an acorn squash. In general, I really like just about any kind of squash. Acorn squash is more of a fall squash so I tried to find some great veggies to pair with it. I had brussel sprouts and some cranberries left over from Thanksgiving, so I found a recipe for a fall veggie dish. https://pin.it/5HdGkxR

Nothing Like a Tall, Cold Glass of Iced Tea

  I am from the south and we like our iced tea. I make a gallon of iced tea for my husband daily. He likes his sweet but not southern sweet. I use artificial sweeteners since he has to watch his sugar. He also likes flavored tea, like peach tea. I am more of a green tea fan and I drink mine straight, no sweetener at all. However you like your tea, the art of making a good glass of tea is one that not all have mastered. Many times the tea you get out in restaurants is very weak. My husband calls it brown water rather than tea. Some places have mastered the art of a good glass of tea and we all have our favorite places to purchase a tall, cold iced tea.
     With the pandemic people have had to resort to making their own tea at home or wait in a long drive thru to get an iced tea. How do you make the best glass of iced tea? The key is in the steeping. I typically brew my tea in the microwave. Many people swear that on the stove in a pan is the best way to make tea. My all time favorite way to make tea is in the sun. Yes, sun tea is a real thing. It works best if you have a glass gallon jar. Fill it with filtered cold water and put your tea bags in. If you use small, one cup tea bags as I call them, put 5 or 6 bags of tea into your gallon container. I have started buying the gallon tea bags from Amazon and I just have to put one bag in the gallon jar with water. Any day that has lots of sunshine is a perfect day to make sun tea. Set the gallon jar in the sunshine and wait. You will see the tea start to develop to a beautiful golden brown. If it is a warm sunny day, you can typically brew a gallon of sun tea in half a day. If the clouds fade in and out, I just let it set all day. If you put it out in the morning, you can bring it in by 5:00 in the evening to make your tea.