Hello, friends. It's been a busy few weeks around here, with little time for blogging or reading. We had a wonderful long visit with our daughter and son-in-law earlier in the month. He works remotely and she is between jobs as they begin to look for a house in CT (!) ... so we had plenty of time together. While they were here, all of the remaining Hurricane Ian repairs were completed and we began refurnishing our ground-level guest suite. This past week, I have been frantically trying to pull it all together in time for our first non-family guest since 2022... who arrives later today :)
My reading has been slow, bordering on nonexistent, all month but I was able to pick up the pace over the last few days.
Current reading//
Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain
I'm buddy reading this nonfiction classic with Tina and it's been slow going, but I will finish it this week!
Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson
This is the current selection of the MMD book club and I'm determined to finish it before the author talk on Thursday. That shouldn't be a problem since I've passed the 50% mark and the pages are turning quickly.
In the kitchen//
I have several quick-and-easy shrimp recipes in our regular dinner rotation, but this week I found one more to add to the mix - Cilantro Lime Shrimp from Natasha's Kitchen. Just a quick marinade and either saute or grill the shrimp and you'll have dinner ready in minutes. I didn't have cilantro on hand, so used parsley instead. It was still delicious!
Another recent hit is this copycat Cheesecake Factory Miso Salmon recipe. This has probably been around for a while and I'm late to the party, but everybody loved it and my daughter even asked for the recipe. I've already made it twice!
The week ahead//
I'm relishing the thought of a relatively quiet week. After our weekend guest leaves, I'll have a few days to prepare for the arrival of our other NYC daughter and son-in-law. There will be some cleaning, meal-planning, shopping, and cooking, but beyond that I just plan to read. I'd love to finish both current reads and start March with a clean slate!
How was your week? What have you been reading?
The Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.
ReplyDeleteStarting fresh in March for reading sounds good and I am planning that as well.
Testament of Youth is slow and I haven't been in touch enough about where I am. That said, if you reply here I can email you with thoughts...I am in Part three.
Gorgeous photo you have of the beach. I know your daughter and SIL were probably reluctant to head back north. Great you are having more family visits.
Tina - No worries. I am also in Part three now... just about at the end of chapter 10, Survivors Not Wanted. A fresh start for March will be welcome!
DeleteIt's wonderful that your repairs are finally complete. I'm sure you enjoyed your time with family and will enjoy your new guest who arrives today.
ReplyDeleteGood luck in finishing your books up before the end of the month.
Deb - having those repairs finally done is a huge relief. I'm sure we could have finished sooner if we were here all year long, butfor now that's not happening.
DeleteOh, how I wish I were walking on that gorgeous beach right now. Rain and wind here this weekend, which is not good for my current mood/despair. I'm happy that your repairs are finally completed and that you had a great visit with your daughter and son-in-law. How exciting that they're looking for a home in CT. My daughter and her husband have put their gorgeous home (in Franklin, TN) on the market and are planning to move up to Nashville. Exciting times for them.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading a lot mainly to stay away from the news, but my insomnia has been terrible, so I'm reading even more when I should be sleeping. I have several books from the library, but wound up grabbing an old Maggie O'Farrell book off my TBR shelf last night and couldn't put it down. I love the cover art for Good Dirt. Will have to look at the blurb about it to see if it's something I might enjoy.
That Cilantro Lime Shrimp sounds delicious. Might be good for shrimp tacos...
I'm still thinking about Chris Whitaker's All the Colors of the Dark, which I finished last week. It's probably my favorite book so far this year!
Enjoy all of your visitors, JoAnn.
Les - Probably better to be reading than watching too much news these days. I'm afraid things are going to get much worse before they get better. Sorry to hear about the insomnia... I tend to listen when I can't sleep. Lately more podcasts than audiobooks, but I want to get back to books.
DeleteWe hadn't been to the beach much until last week (red tide, cold, noseeums) but conditions have gotten better... and nothing calms me like being near the water!
I served the shrimp with jasmine rice and a veggie, but I was thinking about putting them in tacos next time... so quick and easy!
We are so happy 'the kids' have decided to move to CT! They will be looking in the West Hartford area, which is a much easier drive for us than heading down the coast to Fairfield County, which was also under consideration. Exciting that your daughter and her husband will be moving to Nashville!
Hope I can get to All the Colors of the Dark soon. My sister loved it, too!
Yay for a good visit with family! I hope you have a great week with more time to read ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cindy. It's always good to spend time with the family!
DeleteI look forward to seeing what you think of Good Dirt as it is sitting on my TBR shelf. I also haven't been reading much this past week. Somehow life is getting in the way.
ReplyDeleteHelen - I really like Good Dirt so far. Ended up adding in the audio so I can finish on time and January Lavoy's narration is great!
DeleteHear Hear to March! You sound busy. Take a load off when you can. I look forward to your thoughts on Good Dirt. Is it as good as Black Cake? Enjoy your guest and your Sanibel Sunday. What a perfect beach sunset. :-)
ReplyDeleteSusan - So far I like Good Dirt more than Black Cake, but we'll see how I feel after finishing. We had a few weeks with poor beach conditions, but things finally turned around last week... sunset walks are the best!
DeleteJoAnn, you have indeed been busy and I know you have enjoyed your guests. Hope all goes well this week and you get a bit of downtime with some extra 'fun' reading for you. Take care!
ReplyDeleteKay - We have an old friend who vacations in the area with her friends every winter and love that she comes a day early to spend a night with us first! Now I have a quiet week before another daughter and son-in-law fly in on Friday... finally a few days with my books!!
DeleteThose prawns/shrimp look so good! And simple too!
ReplyDeleteHave a great week.
Marg - I always keep a bag of shrimp in the freezer for a quick meal. This was delicious and, as Les mentioned above, I'm going to try them in tacos next time.
DeleteCilantro-Lime Shrimp. Sounds yummy. Good luck with your slow-going book.
ReplyDeletehttps://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2025/02/sunday-salon-dragons.html
Anne - I passed the 80% mark in Testament of Youth today - hooray!
DeleteJust printed out the shrimp recipe--I love shrimp and this looks and sounds so good! I really need to read Testament of Youth--kudos to you being within striking distance of finishing it.
ReplyDeleteJaneGS - Testament of Youth is such an interesting book. Not sure I've ever read a first hand account from a woman during that time period. It is slow and, at times, a slog but I don't regret spending the time with it. Hope to finish in a day or two.
DeleteThe photo you included. Lovely as usual.
ReplyDeleteYay on getting to re-furnish the guest suite. It's been a long time coming!
I love that salmon recipe. I am going to hang on to it. I make salmon and brown rice for my lunch most days and it's nice to have a variation to my normal prep.
Ti - I've been cooking salmon more frequently lately, so am always looking for new ways to prepare it. This one was really good!
DeleteQuiet weeks are so nice - especially after a week with guests. Good Dirt looks like a good read. I need to check out the MMD book club to see what the choices are. I hope you're having a peaceful week with lots of good reading!
ReplyDeleteKatherine - I finished Good Dirt and enjoyed it quite a bit. MMD book club has gotten me to read several books I might not otherwise pick up, plus I love their author events!
DeleteI am glad you had a nice visit with your family, JoAnn. My mom ended up having to make an emergency trip up to Washington state to be with her aunt who caught pneumonia. Luckily, she is going to be okay. I think the bigger concern for my aunt was who going to care for my Great Aunt's partner who has Alzheimer's. She can't be left alone for long. My mom is hoping to be back before my daughter's birthday next month, but we'll see. We can always again when she does get back. :-)
ReplyDeleteI hope you had a good book discussion about Good Dirt!
Have a good weekend, JoAnn!
Hi Wendy - We had a great discussion for Good Dirt! I ended up enjoying the book even more the Black Cake, the author's previous novel. I'm sorry to hear about your Great Aunt and it all sound slike a very difficult situation. Can't be easy for your mom either. Hope you have a good weekend.
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