Reading and Eating
I’ve been doing a lot of reading and eating lately! I read two books I really enjoyed (and had one “meh,”) and may have partially solved the “what the hell is for dinner?” problem. Let’s start with the books. I didn’t love this book about people going through doors to different worlds. Actually, I couldn’t even decide if I liked it at all, but I was intrigued by the fact that I couldn’t figure out where it was going. Usually when I read a book I have a good idea what’s going to happen, or at least I can guess it’s going to be one of several outcomes. I kept reading this one mostly because it was different. In the end, I didn’t like the characters. I know it’s fantasy, but even in fantasy I like the characters to behave in a believable manner so I can relate to them. The plot was weird but interesting, but the one-dimensional characters killed it for me. Wrong Place Wrong Time was even better than I thought it would be! It got a lot of rave reviews that convinced me to read it, but I was afraid it would be too gimmicky. The premise involves a woman who witnesses her son committing a murder and then travels back through time to figure out why he did it. Now, I have an issue! I hate how, in stories about time travel, the reader knows what’s going on but the character doesn’t, so there’s a long boring section where the character is trying to figure out what’s going on. I want to shout “YOU WENT BACK IN TIME, GET ON WITH THE STORY!” Of course, if the character woke up in a different time and said “I knew immediately I had gone back in time” then I would be criticizing it for being unrealistic, so I guess there’s no way around it. ANYWAY, once we got past that, I really, really enjoyed this book. Even with the time travel, it all made sense. It was a fun mystery, and I liked the main character. I could totally relate, having a son of my own. It’s also a fast read. I basically read the entire second half one evening, sitting on the couch while my husband and daughter carried on around me- I barely noticed them as I sped through the book. My husband gave me two books for my birthday. He started reading one of them, The Lost Art of Running by Shane Benzie, and I read The Rise of the Ultra Runners. I LOVED IT! It recounts two years of the author’s life, where he dives into the world of ultra running, with the goal of accruing enough points (by running various ultra races) to run UTMB (one of the most prestigious trail ultras in the world.). The book alternates between his race recaps and sections where he gives the history behind different races, and also talks about some of the legends (and lesser-known runners) of the sport. In one section he talks about meeting Shane Benzie, which was pretty funny since I’m reading his book soon. I highly recommend this book IF you’re at all interested in ultra running. If not… don’t read it. Okay, onto the food! Two weekends ago, when University of Miami was in the basketball playoffs (sob- still sad about how that turned out!) my theme dinner for the night was “Cuban.” I made this recipe for Cuba Black Beans, which were delicious! I made a lime-cilantro rice to go with it, and the first night we had it with plantains and steamed kale (I bought the plantains frozen from the store and just baked them in the oven.) But this dinner didn’t stop there! We had it again the next night with avocado instead of plantains. Then I had it a third night! My husband was over it at that point, but I don’t mind eating the same thing over and over again. I was scraping the bottom of the barrel, vegetable-wise, and had it with a salad of romaine lettuce. This whole Cuban bean thing made me realize that cooking a huge pot of beans on Sunday is a GREAT idea. This past weekend I made a double recipe of this bean and vegetable burrito filling. I was going to put in some vegan cheese, but in the end left out the cheese entirely, and it’s delicious! (Side note- if you make this, watch the salt. I put in two teaspoons for a double batch and it was plenty.) Muahahaha…. we’ll be eating a lot of burritos this week. I wonder how my husband will like that. Next up reading-wise, Exposure by Helen Dunmore. I’ve only read the first chapter, but I already love it. Have you read any of these books? Do you mind eating the same thing for several nights in a row?