Well, this last week was an odd one. I prepared a ton of food and only managed to take TWO photos. And I started a book that I loved, but couldn’t find any time to read. It was like an alarm went off every time my butt touched the couch- it was a signal for cats to start throwing up, the oven to beep, and my daughter to have the pressing need to discuss her next hair color. But I persevered, and finally finished Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko.
This book was described as a “dark Harry Potter” or “the anti-Harry Potter you didn’t know you wanted.” In my opinion, the two books shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same sentence. There was nothing Harry Potter-ish about this book. One of the Amazon reviewers described it as “surreal and confusing” and that sums it up well.
The main character is a teenage girl, Sasha, who is “selected” to attend a special school. The students are forced to study intricate and incomprehensible material, which eventually leads to scary and dream-like transformations. When I say I “loved” this book, I mean I was completely engrossed in it every time I managed to read. Several times I got honked at in the car line at my daughter’s school- I would take out the book while waiting and the story was so compelling, I would be reading and reading, not noticing that traffic had started to move.
Parts of it were so odd, it was hard to come back to real life. My family would be talking to me and I would stare at them… what? Something about laundry? It was so easy for me to be immersed in Sasha’s world at the “Institute of Special Technologies.”
HOWEVER. I think this is the first time I’ve ever liked a book this much, yet have no desire to read the sequel. Somehow it feels like one book was enough, and I don’t want to continue on with the story. I think I want to read a regular book, where regular things happen to regular people.
About all that food… my son arrived home from college, along with his roommate. His roommate stayed with us for five days and in preparation for the visit, I stocked the fridge! I made a REALLY good pasta salad, this one from Nora Cooks. It was a big hit, and provided lunch, snacks, and a side dish for dinner one night.
I also made a big batch of pinto beans, using a Chipotle copycat recipe. I actually can’t remember which one I used- they’re all very similar. I also made a Chipotle copycat recipe for rice, and again, this Chipotle copycat recipe for tofu sofritas. And we had guac and salsa. This all provided dinner one night, and was a handy thing to have in the fridge for lunches.
One night I made the Thai Yellow Mango Curry from Minimalist Baker. This recipe is so good! For some strange reason, every time I make this I make naan (recipe also from Minimalist Baker) which mixes Thai and Indian. Oh well, it’s fusion!
Another night the boys made an Asian meal, which I took this stunningly bad photo of:
And another night, we ate out at our favorite Thai place- this may have been an overload of Asian food, but we found out the restaurant is closing soon and felt that we just had to go. I completely forgot to take a photo, which seems like not just a blogging fail but a life fail as well. When will we ever- our family plus my son’s friend- be back at that restaurant together? Never. I really wish I had remembered a picture.
The day after our friend left, we had so many odds and ends of leftovers, I announced that we were going to use everything up for dinner that night. As much as I loved having the fridge full of food, it was also oddly satisfying to eat everything and have it (relatively) empty again.
And now it’s back to normal. I have a library hold to pick up tomorrow (a normal mystery) and once again I have no idea what we’re having for dinner. SIGH!
Has anyone read Vita Nostra? – I’m interested to hear what other people think!
24 Responses
I haven’t read Vita Nostra but I understand exactly what you mean. I’m also interested to see the opinions of others who have read it – I’ll watch out for it in the comments.
Your food looks delicious! I love naan, I could have it with anything. Mixing it with Thai is a brilliant idea!
Who was that at the table waiting so patiently for you to take a photo? 🙂
Ha, that was my husband. My family is used to me making them wait so I can take photos. And I agree- naan makes any meal delicious.
Gosh, that sounds like an immersive book, it’s weird when you have to come out and it’s like you’ve surfaced from underwater, isn’t it.
Yes, reading it was an interesting and strange experience. Immersive is a good word.
I love that feeling of being so absorbed in a book that you almost forget there is a world around you! The last time that happened to me was with Girls They Write Songs About. Vita Nostra is not a book I’m going to read but I’m glad you had such a good experience with it!
Regarding the photo at the restaurant – I often find when I’m having the best time I take the fewest photos. So I will assume that you had the best meal ever!
Ha, we did have a good time! It is a good sign when you’re not thinking about photos.
I would definitely not recommend Vita Nostra for you- as a matter of fact I’m not sure who I would recommend it to. It’s a very odd book.
I have not read that book, but you are the second person that has recently mentioned it, so I went and put it on hold at the library and will report back after I am done. I did like Harry Potter, but if it is not like HP, then it will be interesting to see what it is like. I did read another kind of kids with magic abilities book called The Deadly Education, which I thought was just okay and probably will not read any more of the series…
Your meals look great! I am glad you got through the period with the boys and came out okay on the other side! I do love having a full fridge, but I also do love cleaning it out and refilling it! It’s so satisfying!
Okay, I’ll be very interested to hear what you think of the book! I’m not usually into fantasy, but I LOVED Harry Potter and am always open to trying something similar (this was NOT similar, however.) I’m definitely glad I read it though.
I love cleaning out the fridge – it gives me so much joy! But then…I have to use ingredients to make food again, so it’s a mixed bag. But there is a deep satisfaction that comes from clearing out leftovers!!
I’ve never read that book; the last book that really pulled me in was The Nothing Man thriller. I couldn’t put it down and ended up staying up waaayyyy too late to finish it in a single evening.
Yes, I keep hearing about The Nothing Man but they don’t have it at our library! I’ll read it one of these days.
I’m already at a loss as to what to cook again, ugh.
I read Vita Nostra since you heard about it from me, but I did not like it! I decided not to rate it on goodreads because I am not the target audience for this book (I’m not a big fan of fantasy usually). I do not know why this book is being compared to HP! That is not great marketing as I found no similarities besides being set at a school! We will discuss it at book club next week and I am looking forward to hearing what others thought. I know some really liked it. I was very confused by much of the book, though, so maybe they can shed my light on things (like I do not understand the mental exercises they were doing).
How fun to get to host one of your son’s friends from college. Now that friend will always remember you. I didn’t have the opportunity to meet a lot of parents of college friends so I really remember the ones I DID meet. It deepens your friendship to meet a person’s family! I can’t imagine how much those 2 boys ate, though!!!
Yes, I remember that you were lukewarm on the book. I wish I could join your book club and hear what other people thought! It was definitely confusing- I’m not sure we were meant to understand the exercises, or a lot of the dialogue for that matter. I still liked it, but as I said by the end I was ready to be done.
Is your whole family vegan or just you? I am the only vegetarian/pescatarian so when my kids were home, I made multiple meals. I know crazy huh!? I’ve been in a rut w food lately. I need to get back at it!
My husband, son and I are all vegan. My daughter started off vegan but in a fit of rebellion is now vegetarian and is threatening to eat meat, SIGH! But, she’s 14 and old enough to do what she wants. My son’s roommate is not vegan or vegetarian, but is happy to cook and eat vegan.
Ugh on all that cooking.
I’m in a rut and make the same meals. Luckily my hubby will eat anything.
Nope on the book. But it does sound intriguing.
Now I’m totally burned out and have no idea what to cook. I wish we could get takeout every night.
I have Vita Nostra from the library, but other books keep coming up as priority reads because they can’t be renewed and right now I’m actually reading my book club book because it has to be done by a certain date. *sigh* I will get to it soon! Have you read The Magicians by Lev Grossman? It sounds similar in some ways – it’s a magical school for adults (sort of like college) and people always said it was Harry Potter for grownups, but I never thought it should have been mentioned in the same sentence as HP because they were so very different.
I love that you son’s friend came to visit! What a great home you must have that your son feels compelled to brag enough about it that someone would come visit!
I gave my son The Magicians for Christmas, and he brought it home with him- so I will definitely read it this summer.
Ha ha… usually I’m self conscious about our house- it’s kind of small, and it can be a tad… messy… but my son assured me that this friend wouldn’t care about any of that and he was right. The friend describes himself as “not very detail-oriented.” He’s the perfect guest for us!
Argh!!! It’s so frustrating when you get the perfect book and have no time to read.
The pasta salad looks epic!
Now I’m starting another book and have no time to read… grr.
I haven’t read Vita Nostra – not really my type of book, especially since I don’t think Lisa enjoyed it and our tastes tend to align. But I love that feeling of being so absorbed in a book that you lose all sense of time and place!
Yes, Lisa gave it a lukewarm review but then seemed to like it less and less the more she thought about it! It was a weird book. i’m glad I read it, but I’m ready for something else.
Oooh, your pinto beans and naan sound wonderful. I would have invited myself over for dinner, for sure. 🙂 (Seriously, you need to write a “what I ate” post every couple of weeks or something… every time you post about food, I open the links and find things that I would love… Same with Birchie’s posts. :>) Anyway! Glad you navigated the house guest – it sounds like they were flexible, and not too overwhelming to have them in the house? I hope? And that book sounds… odd. I read the blurb and I’m undecided… we shall see if I ever pick it up. 🙂
Yes, I get a lot of great ideas from Birchie too! And my son’s roommate turned out to be the ideal houseguest- really laid back and easygoing. It was fun having him (although i was also relieved when he left- our house is just too small for lengthy visits.)