Bits o' my week...

One of my holiday weekend events was dinner out with some cousins.  A couple live near me, but one flew in for the weekend, so we jammed an early dinner in before other obligations.  We hit a local Mediterranean place (Mazah) because a couple of them are vegans and this place has a wonderful selection of all kinds of stuff.  More importantly, the food is fabulous every time. It's a slower paced place, which gave us time to chat and catch up while enjoying our samplers.

One of my wonderful gifts this year was the good knife with a matching cutting board.  My nieces picked out the perfect green color to go with my kitchen.  I promptly christened it by cutting myself when I took it out of the safety guard to wash it.  Clearly I don't have much practice with really sharp knives!  I'm excited to use it.  I like to cook and bake, but realized that all of my good kitchen stuff has been given to my by my family.  Good knives, nice stainless steel/aluminum pots, pyrex glass baking ware - I think they are trying to send me a message!

 This is peppermint ice cream time of year. (yes, it's pink, but apparently the iPhone camera has trouble with that color in overhead light). I love it, can't get enough and try to stock up before it's gone.  Which reminds me, I need to grab a few more containers this week!

My friend Anna and I were heading out to lunch the other day and I told her I'd bought several containers of this ice cream - and then ate one of them the first week.

She asked "they only sell them in small containers?" 

My response, "Umm, nope!"

Apparently, I'm a book snob.  Who knew?

I just recently joined the wonderful world of eReaders with a Nook simple touch.  It's fantastic, light, easy to use, holds tons of books, has a long battery life and most importantly allows me to download FREE library books at will.

The snob part reared it's ugly head when I read one of the free books I downloaded from Barnes and Noble's collection.  It was a mess.  Not an editor to be found in association with the book.  It was 360 pages of typos, bad grammar, inaccuracies (it was based in Wales) and spacing issues.  After about 3 pages I was annoyed beyond belief.  It was also a really interesting story - so I read it anyway.  I almost wish I had the paper version, so I could have edited it myself and shipped it back to the publisher.  I imagine it was either an inadvertent release or it was free because the final copy was not available in the e-version.  I'm through venting now, thanks for listening.

I chose the eReader over a new sleek tablet for a few reasons.  It fits in my bag (and even small purses), it has a non-reflective and non-back lit screen which is easier on my eyes after 10+ hours a day in front of a computer, I got a really good deal on cyber Monday (not at B&N), and I can travel with it without worrying about the potential replacement expense of a tablet. 

I hope everyone is recovering from their holiday and getting ready for the new year.  I know I'm looking forward to it!

M.E.