Reading and Eating

I don’t know why this is happening, but I’ve been loving every single book I’ve read lately.  Maybe it’s because I’m getting better at reading reviews, or more discerning.  I’m not tempted to read a book that everyone else seems to love if I can tell it’s not for me.  OR, maybe it’s just luck.  Anyway, I finished two books this week: The Agatha Christie was a reread, as always.  There isn’t an Agatha Christie I haven’t read, but since I read most of them in my teens and 20s, sometimes I can read one again without remembering the twist.  This was happily one of those times!  I got inspired to read this particular one from Stephany (I hope she enjoys it as well!) The Iris Murdoch book- just in case you think I’ve changed my mind am in now into horror- does NOT involve an actual severed head.  It’s a story about marriage, infidelity, and “love,” although I would question that last word- more like “infatuation” and “passion.”  I love Iris Murdoch’s writing- the people get themselves into some preposterous situations, and yet I find myself thinking “yes, I can see why he did that.”  It was also funny, AND was written in the 1960s, which is my new favorite decade to read about. Eating!  Well, there’s not much to report.  We’ve somehow been managing to eat a dinner every night, but it hasn’t been exciting.  I did, however, make donuts!  This requires a bit of a backstory. Several years ago, we “cruelly” ruined my daughter’s 4th of July by forcing her to spend the day in the car driving up to Tallahassee.  We had to pick my son up from camp, and she was too young to stay alone.  I tried to make the trip as festive as possible, but she wasn’t having it. Then we suggested celebrating on a different day, but of course she pointed out that THE 4TH OF JULY HAS TO BE ON JULY 4Th.  We tried to get around that by celebrating a few days later and calling it “July 4th Day.”  She still wasn’t convinced, so I pulled out all the stops and made donuts.  Hence, the July 4th Day Donut Tradition was born. This year, “July 4th Day” fell on Sunday the 14th, because that was the day I had enough time to make donuts.  I’m talking about yeasted donuts, which have to rise, then are cut into the donut shapes, and then deep fried.  When you only deep fry donuts once a year, it’s VERY hard to get it right. But, it didn’t matter.  They all tasted good with a nice glaze on top, and everyone was happy.  Phew, done with that task for another year. If you’re reading this on Wednesday, I’m on my “reading retreat” right now!!!  I’ll be back with an update on Friday. Have you ever made fried donuts? What are you reading now? Top photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash