I loved “The Hunger Games,” it wasn’t at all what I thought it would be about; I obviously had not looked into the story line before I started reading. I just decided since so many people were talking about it that it was probably good.  Going into it I assumed the book was either about a group of people fighting for their survival against starvation or about some sort of eating disorder…boy, was I off.

Never would I have thought this trilogy was about a teenager forced into a game of survival for sport, watched by millions of people.  But I was hooked.  I enjoyed “The Hunger Games” so much that as soon as I finished it I HAD to start reading “Catching Fire.”  I actually found “Catching Fire” pretty entertaining as well and made it through the book quickly as well.

I was so anxious to start “Mockingjay” that I borrowed it from some friends because I didn’t want to wait for it to be in stock at the library.  (Sorry you still don’t have your book back guys!) I started “Mockingjay” in June and was immediately bored.  Theoretically this book is actually very similar to the first two, it just wasn’t as interesting to me.

I put off reading it for months and have just now finished it.  Finally in the last 3rd of the book I did get hooked and actually wanted to find out what happened.  I definitely have to go with the majority on this one and say that book 1 is the best and they go downhill from there.

I’ve heard that some people are expecting “The Hunger Games” movies to be bigger and more popular than “Twilight.”  What do you think? I’m not sure that’s possible.

This was supposed to be Mom’s Christmas present, but when we went to assemble it on Christmas Day the table had a big chunk missing. So I had to wait for it to come back in stock and reorder it. The people at Bed Bath & Beyond made this a breeze & honored my original discounts (free shipping & 20% off), the rock!

Jan 29th – Day 29

A spur of the moment, ok it took us about an hour & a half of texting to decide what to do, brunch at Campisis can never be a bad decision!

Jan 30th – Day 30

These are the ingredients that went into my be crockpot recipe. How could anything with a wine marinade be bad?

Jan 31th – Day 31

Another successful crockpot recipe: Parmesan Garlic Chicken

Feb 1st – Day 32

February Photoaday Challenge started today. This is “my view” after an much needed pedicure with Nicole!

Feb 2nd – Day 33

Day 2 – words that make my day

Feb 3rd – Day 34

Day 3 – hands – this is my friend’s youngest son. All 3 are ADORABLE, but I’d never met this little guy before!

Once again this was an awesome crockpot meal!  It does require some prep work the night before because you marinade the chicken over night in all the goodies below:

I do always have a hard time knowing what dry white wine I should buy for cooking, but ended up going with a Pinot Grigio and then just picked an inexpensive one.  I couldn’t help but think, how could anything marinating over night in wine be bad?

I ended up doing 3 chicken breasts because that’s what came in the pack. This recipe called for 4 chicken breasts but to be honest, I’m not sure how there would be enough marinade for 4 breasts, the marinade seemed to barely coat the 3 breasts I was using and next time I might make it bigger.

When it came time to put it in the crock pot there was hardly any liquid for the chicken to sit in, but you’ll notice in the recipe it doesn’t call for additional liquid.  All the same, I added more Pinot Grigio just to feel better about leaving it all day while I was at work.

I loved how awesome my house smelled when I walked in on Tuesday!  The garlic and basil aroma was delicious!

You’ll notice on the recipe from Tasty Kitchen, that you can cook it on low for up to 8 hours.  I think I ended up cooking it more like 9 hours…and that was bit much.  I wish I’d been home to keep an eye on this one and see how it cooked.  I think that because I had to leave it for so long the chicken got a little dryer than it normally would have. However the flavor was still delicious and the meal turned out very good. 

Also…I just cooked the entire package of Orzo, I know the recipe calls for only a cup, but Orzo isn’t something I normally cook with so I just went for it.  Sadly my local grocery store doesn’t have a Whole Wheat Orzo option so I just had to go with regular ol’ Orzo.  Since I did the whole box of Orzo, I went a head and cooked the whole bag of frozen broccoli.  Out of laziness I just cooked the brocolli in with th Orzo so I didn’t dirty another pan.  Plus I hate microwaving frozen broccoli, some how I always end up burning it.

Once I’d cooked the Orzo and broccoli and then tossed in the chicken  I couldn’t believe how much this made!  Beth and I both had dinner on Tuesday night and then there was still enough for 3 very generous meals.

I’ve now tried this meal reheated and it was still delicious.  Maybe it’s the tenderness of the chicken from slow cooking that makes it reheatable, I’m really not sure.  But I LOVE that this meal is good left over.

Since I had left over Pinot Grigio I went ahead and had glass with dinner and you know what it actually wasn’t bad!

This week’s wine was another gift, thanks sis!

Did you know Adam Carolla does wine?  Neither did I, but apparently this one is from him.  He offers a Cabernet and a Zinfandel.

I thought the Sledgehammer Cabernet was excellent.  This is a California Cabernet that I supposed should be deemed a “Man’s Cabernet” with it’s big, bold flavor. 

Since this was a gift, I am not 100% certain how much it cost but at between $10-$15 a bottle I think this is actually a great selection.  And again, I recommend let this wine breath a little before drinking it because the flavors really even out as it sits.

I’m sorry, but I just can’t get passed the fact that Adam Carolla makes wine!  I want to make wine!  Guess I have to figure out how to become famous to make this happen!

After a long week I needed a fun girl’s night and scheduled dinner with Jodie & Pam.  We got to the restaurant about 6:30 and didn’t have a reservation, so we planned to have a drink while we waited for a table…no luck, the bar was PACKED!  Just when we thought we were going to be able to get to the bar our table was ready.

I had scoped out the menu online before we went to dinner and had to try the Apt. 5D martini.  Never had I tried a martini with balsamic vinegar, but I’d never even heard of a martini made with it before.  It was delicious!!  I highly recommend it.

The awesome thing about dinner with these two is we could order a ton of different things and share so we could all try a good portion of the menu.

To start, we picked out two appetizers.  The Cheesesteak Eggrolls.

They had a sweet and spicy chili sauce that was a nice compliment to the slices of cheesesteak.  They were amazing!

Next up we went with the Ahi Tacos.

These weren’t exactly my cup of tea, but I did try them.  The shells reminded me of a wonton because of the crunchiness; and the shells were jam packed with Tuna Tartare.  If you are tuna fan, you will love these.  Me…not so much, but that’s my own issue with raw fish!

For dinner, we couldn’t pick!  Too many things on the menu sounded good and then our waiter told us about the special it was a trio of steak medallions, each one with a different topping.  And I must take a minute and apologize, we got so excited to try the food that I didn’t get pictures until after we’d started digging in.

Here is the steak trio:

The piece on the left was topped with a gorgonzola butter sauce.  The middle medallion was topped with lump crab meat.  And the piece to the right was topped with some sort of sweet mushroom sauce.  All 3 were so different and obviously the gorgonzola butter piece was our favorite but they were all delicious.

We also ordered a flat bread to try and went with the Pulled Roasted Chicken flat bread.  It was topped with goat cheese, potatoes and chicken.  The flat bread was huge and was definitely more than enough for a meal.

Pam really wanted to try the Sole Franceses and I of course was skeptical but I am SO glad she ordered it.  It was amazing!  It didn’t tasty fishy at all and was very light.  It was topped with lump crab, an arugula-cherry tomato salad drizzled with a chive- lemon butter sauce.  If you like Sole, I’m confident you will enjoy this!

Despite ordering 2 appetizers and 3 entrees…there was no way we were getting out of there without trying the bacon, jalapeno mac & cheese!  It was really good, but I’m not gonna lie…it wasn’t as spicy as I’d hoped!  But I’d still recommend it.

The wine list is huge and was even overwhelming to this wino.  But, I saw the Decoy by Duckhorn, and since we’re all red wine fans it seemed like a good option.  I’d never had the Cabernet before and we didn’t leave a drop!

Not that we had room, but we decided we couldn’t turn down dessert. As the waiter was going over the rather extensive dessert list with us I noticed the Lemon Cake…now if you’ve never been to Del Frisco’s and tried the Lemon Cake you are missing out!  It is one of my all time favorite desserts so the girls wanted to try it.

We had a great time and I can’t wait to go back!

This was such an easy read.  I read it on my Kindle, so I’m not sure the length of the book.  But I started it Tuesday and had it finished Saturday morning and I didn’t even have a chance to read on Wednesday and Thursday.

This series is at least 18 books long, and to be honest, I’m not sure I’d read any more.  Evanovich’s writing style is easy to read but it didn’t really suck me in to the story.  Who knows I might change my mind if I find another book like “The Marriage Plot” and need a nice easy read I might pick up “Two for the Dough.”

This book to me is a “surface” novel; you don’t get a lot of depth about the characters.  Though to be honest I’m not sure there’s much depth to develop.  Stephanie Plum is your stereotypical “Jersey Girl;” well prior to the onslaught of the Jersey Shore.  But let’s face it, the Jersey Shore people aren’t really even from Jersey.

Don’t get me wrong, it was still a fun read and I really appreciated the easiness of the writing.  It was the perfect fit for this past week.

“One for the Money” was originally written in 1994, and I’m sure Evanovich was thrilled to finally have it made into a movie.  The movie was good, but definitely not an award winner and to be honest I’m a little surprised that Katherine Heigel wanted to play Stephanie Plum. 

There were obvious changes to the story in the movie and I’d assume for mass appeal, the Benito Ramirez story line was toned down so much that it almost seemed pointless to even have him in the movie.  This is one movie I don’t think you HAVE to read the book before seeing, but I’m glad I did.

Well, that’s 3 books down…maybe this goal of 20 in a year won’t be so hard to achieve after all!

Saturday I was at Hacienda on Henderson for a birthday dinner and a movie was being filmed there.  See the guy in the picture above, I tried googling him and looking him up on IMDB; no luck!  Supposedly he is or was on the Lying Game but I couldn’t find any proof.

Jan 22nd – Day 22

It had been over 3 weeks since I had last seen my nephews.  So I had a blast hanging out with them Sunday afternoon.  E has gotten so big, and W still doesn’t like to have his picture taken so the silly face was the best I could get!

Jan 23rd – Day 23

Monday night I was determined to finish reading “The Marriage Plot” by Jeffrey Eugenides that I forced myself to sit and finish it.  Now I can say I’ve read it and won’t ever recommend it to anyone, see Monday’s post!

 Jan 24th – Day 24

I had no idea that Starbucks did Valentine’s cups, but how cute is this one! Now if only the Cup Magic App was up to date!

Jan 25th – Day 25

Going to a Scentsy party was fun and dangerous…I walked away ordering way more than I probably should have, but I can’t wait for my new scents to arrive!

Jan 26th – Day 26

I love my new business cards so much I can’t wait to hand them out!

Jan 27th – Day 27

Borrowing this from yesterday.  Last night I finally made it to Del Frisco’s Grille and tried the Apt 5D martini that was delicious.  Look for a review coming next week!

While full of flavor, this Rioja is surprisingly light with a hint of pepper.  Almost seems like it’d be a great summer time red because of it’s airy quality.  This reminds me of a Tempranillo.

In an effort to learn a little more about Riojas I looked it up on wikipedia and shocker….Rioja is a blended wine. . No wonder I liked it.

I opened this bottle up a good 30 minutes before trying it and by the time I had my 2nd glass it was perfect.  So I definitely recommend giving it some time to breath before drinking it.

I’m a big fan of spice, so I decided to add a few things to this recipe including: 2 jalapenos, a bell pepper and an Anaheim chili.

I did all the chopping the night before so that I could just throw everything in the next day.

Needless to say the next morning I was entirely too giddy about cooking my first crockpot meal!  I got to work and was telling my officemates about my recipe and the immediately told me that I was going to have a smoky, burned mess when I got home because I didn’t add any water to the crockpot.  I was freaked out!

What if I got home and this:

was inedible?  Fortunately that was not the case!  Look how good it turned out:

I was so relieved and excited that not only did the meal turn out, but it was SO good!  I had picked up a bag of Uncle Ben’s Instant Brown Rice and we had a cleanse approved  meal.

This probably isn’t the most picture, but this is what it looked like on the plate:

If you clicked on the recipe link above, you’ll notice my chicken has a lot more “flair” to it, if you will (not sure why since you can’t really even see the additional peppers I added), than the picture from Tosca Reno’s post.  Maybe my small jar of salsa was bigger than the one she used?

I have no made this meal 3 times and each time it has been a little different.  Second time I didn’t add in all the extra peppers but I did add in some garlic powder and onion powder.  The first two times I added in frozen diced onions because I already had them.  And all three times, because I love it, I added cilantro.

You can definitely make this dish your own! A twitter follower told me they added avocado to it.  I also saw a very similar recipe posted elsewhere that included added cheese.  So be sure to have fun with it!

Do you use a slow cooker? What are your favorite recipes, post a link or share a recipe in the comment section I am anxious to try more crockpot receipes!

This book is about Madeline, an English major/graduate of Brown College in the early 1980s (I say major and graduate because the chronology of this story bounces around quite a bit; in parts she is an undergrad and then at other times she has already graduated), and two love interests: Mitchell and Leonard.

Madeline, finds herself lost in a romance similar to one that could’ve been written by Jane Austin; one of her favorite authors.  Madeline wants so desperately to be in love that she is willing to inject herself in the painful life of Leonard, while Mitchell is willing to do anything to have Madeline.

The story begins the morning of graduation and then the reader is taken back in time to learn why Madeline ended up hung over and being woken up by her parents to go have breakfast before her graduation ceremony.

Despite being an English major, I found myself lost at times as Eugenides went on and on about different authors and their works because the detail was so tedious.  Let me take a moment right here to pause and say, I was an English major with an emphasis on literature and not grammar.  I am sure this is not too surprising of a revelation.

At first I found this book to be interesting but the further I got into it I just wanted it to be over.  Since this was my first book to read on the Kindle, I had no idea that my progress would be tracked in percentage and with this book, that has made reading it even more painful.  As much as I want to give up, I’m not going to. I will follow through and finish up with this book, hopefully tonight because I am 81% finished at the time of this post.

Leonard has manic-depression and is learning how to cope with this “Disease” as he calls it, while Mitchell is traveling the world on a spiritual journey.  This leaves Madeline playing the role of Leonard’s nurse while thinking about Mitchell and wondering “what if.”

I am still hopeful that the culmination of the these three story lines will make my perseverance a worthwhile cause.  Once this book is finished I will have finished book 2 of my goal of 20 books this year.  Not too bad!

Have you read this book? What did you think?  Trust me, you will not see me running out to pick up another Eugenides book any time soon!