Another Blogging Break

I thought this might happen. Life is busy, and about to get busier...

We traveled to Key West and the Everglades for my husband's birthday, are in the midst of major decision-making on the remodeling project, will fly to NY this weekend for a two-week Thanksgiving visit, and then drive our other car to Florida. By the time we get back, Christmas preparations will be in high gear. And then there's the day-to-day political drama... I feel compelled to keep up with every twist as it unfolds.

My reading time has evaporated. Nonfiction November, my absolute favorite blogging event of the year, is happening without me. It's time to hit the pause button for a few weeks.

I'll catch up with you sometime next month. In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving to my friends here in the United States!

This Week's Read: Save Me the Plums

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MAGIC DOOR

I was eight years old when I first found the magazine, sitting on the dusty wooden floor of a used-book store. My father was a book designer who enjoyed the company of ancient volumes, and he often took me on book-hunting expeditions around New York, leaving me with a pile of vintage magazines while he went off to prowl among the dark and crowded shelves. That day I picked up a tattered old issue of Gourmet, enchanted by the cover drawing of a majestic swordfish leaping joyfully from the water. This looked nothing like the ladies' magazines my mother favored, with their recipes for turkey divan made with cans of mushroom soup, or pot roast topped with ketchup, and I opened it to find the pages filled with tales of food in faraway places. A story called "Night of Lobster" caught my eye, and as I began to read, the walls faded, the shop around me vanishing until I was sprawled on the sands of a small island off the coast of Maine. It was deep night, the sky like velvet, spangled with stars.

Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir
by Ruth Reichl

This week's read is actually an audiobook. Ruth Reichl narrates her own story and I am enthralled! Save Me the Plums  is unlike other food memoirs I've read. The magazine/publishing angle is unusual and so interesting. I started listening on Sunday and am halfway through already.

Here is a portion of the goodreads summary:

Trailblazing food writer and beloved restaurant critic Ruth Reichl took the risk (and the job) of a lifetime when she entered the glamorous, high-stakes world of magazine publishing. Now, for the first time, she chronicles her groundbreaking tenure as editor in chief of Gourmet, during which she spearheaded a revolution in the way we think about food.
When Condé Nast offered Ruth Reichl the top position at America's oldest epicurean magazine, she declined. She was a writer, not a manager, and had no inclination to be anyone's boss. And yet . . . Reichl had been reading Gourmet  since she was eight; it had inspired her career. How could she say no?

What do you think? Would you continue reading?

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intro is hosted by Vicki at I'd Rather Be At The Beach.

Sunday Salon: Gulfside Musing is Here!

Hello, friends. I hope you're enjoying a relaxing weekend. Here in southwest Florida, the first hint of fall has arrived... and by that I mean it cooled down to around 70 degrees last night and the high today is expected to hit 84. It feels so much comfortable with lower humidity. I hope it lasts.

The blog name change I've been contemplating is official -  Lakeside Musing is now Gulfside Musing! You'll also notice that the old wooden dock in my profile pic has been replaced by a palm tree. My twitter and instagram handles have been adjusted as well.

Finished this week//

The Nickel Boys

by Colson Whitehead

narrated by JD Jackson

What an amazing book! I finished  yesterday and can't stop thinking about it.... that ending! The Nickel Boys  is even more powerful knowing it's based on a real reform school, the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, which operated in the Florida panhandle until 2011. I plan to attend a book discussion at the library later this month and maybe even write a review. You'll surely see it on my year-end list of favorites. In the meantime, I've added Colson Whitehead's entire backlist to my tbr.

Current reading//

Save Me the Plums

by Ruth Reichl, narrated by the author

I'm starting Nonfiction November with Ruth Reichl's foodie memoir about her time as editor of Gourmet  magazine. It's just the 'something completely different' I need to follow The Nickel Boys.  I started listening on my walk this morning. The ebook is also available from the library... this might turn into a read/listen combination!


On the blog//
Nonfiction November, Week #1: My Year in Nonfiction


In the kitchen//

Lots of baking! Last weekend I mentioned this Cinnamon Sugar Apple Cake from pinch of yum.  I made it on Sunday and it was delicious! I used two large Honeycrisp apples and real buttermilk rather than the milk/vinegar alternative. Everyone loved it! Since I had more buttermilk to use, the next day I made a second one for my FIL's freezer.

We had dinner guests again on Wednesday and there was still  more buttermilk left, so the search was on for another cake recipe. I decided on a  Farmhouse Buttermilk Cake, a moist cake with a super-sweet pecan topping. Our guests loved it, but the topping was a little too sweet for my husband.
P.S.  The buttermilk is finally gone ;-)

Renovation update//

The building permit for our remodel has been filed. The project will begin once it's approved... hopefully within the next week or so. Last week we selected the roof.


How was your week? What are you reading today?

The Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.